Weeds & Wildflowers September Prompt: Sharing Secrets

How I Got Swifted

Music in my life

I used to be a Parrothead. For those who don’t know, a Parrothead is a fan of Jimmy Buffet’s beachy music. His tunes were so Florida. He died five days ago. It felt like my youth died with him, although, let’s be honest, my youth passed away long ago.

My favorite Buffet song is A Pirate Looks at Forty. He hit that milestone eight years before me. I hope I don't follow in his dying footsteps eight years from now.

After being enveloped into a family of Hispanics — Ben is from Argentina; my adopted daughter is from Honduras — I gravitated from beach songs to Latin music, probably in hopes that I’d learn more Spanish from tunes than from the conversations in my house. I didn’t.

So, in 2014, I was listening to Enrique Iglesias, Juanes, Selena, Alejandro Sanz, Leo Dan, and Mercedes Sosa.

Also, in 2014, my daughter and her two children were living with Ben and me. Her son turned seven that year; her daughter turned five.

I was aware of a young female singer crushing it in country music. A girl named Taylor Swift. I knew she was gorgeous, ambitious, and charming. Although I didn’t listen to the radio except for short periods in the car, her music was ubiquitous. Unless you lived in a survivalist camp in the mountains of Arkansas, it was impossible not to be aware of Taylor’s songs — they were everywhere, all the time. But I didn’t know them. And I didn’t know her.

One morning in 2014, I was driving the grands to school when Taylor’s newest song, Shake It Off, came on the radio. Immediately, Granddaughter screamed:

Turn it up! Turn it up! It’s Taylor Swift. She’s the best!

Grandson yelled:

Turn it off! Turn it off! It’s Taylor Swift. She’s so annoying!

I turned it up. Granddaughter sang along — not missing a word.

How did she know that song? Where had she heard it often enough to memorize every word? My daughter only played CDs in her car, and I knew for a fact that she didn’t have a Taylor Swift CD. I hadn’t heard that particular Taylor song. How did Granddaughter know it?

She said she heard it at school. Really? A Catholic school piped in Taylor Swift music?

But, as I said, unless you live in a survivalist camp in the mountains of Arkansas, you can't avoid the music of Taylor Swift.

It was about then that the grands started asking to play music on my phone when they showered. At first, they were happy to play whatever I had downloaded. Later, they asked for their own music.

Grandson wanted Shawn Mendes; Granddaughter wanted Taylor Swift.

Soon, my phone was crowded with their music. Soon their music became my music. But it wasn’t until I discovered Swift’s Red album that I became smitten with her music.

Soon, I was listening to her songs as I worked. The lyrics were clever and catchy. She wrote bold, soul-bearing songs about relationships and breakups. Her tunes were fun and energetic. How can anyone feel down and depressed when listening to Shake It Off or watching the video? I loved that she made fun of herself — already a superstar — in that video.

The fact that all the dancers at the end of the video are her fans — personally chosen by Taylor to be in her video — made me like her even more.

I was impressed with her interviews. She didn’t act like a diva. She was amazingly human. I followed her power moves in the music industry, cheering her on.

Since 2014, she has crushed nearly every music and video record on the books, including but not limited to:

• Youngest artist to ever write and perform a Number One song on the Hot Country Songs chart — Our Song
• Youngest entertainer to receive the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year Award
• Youngest singer to receive Album of the Year Award — Fearless
• First woman to receive three Album of the Year Grammy Awards — Fearless,1989, and Folklore
• She has won the most American Music Awards in history — 34.
• The most weeks at Number One on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart
• Her song, All Too Well (10 Minute Version), is the longest song in history to go to Number One
• Most Video of the Year Awards at the VMAs
• Most streamed album in one day on Spotify

She broke more records. Some weren’t official like the day she crashed Spotify when her Midnights album was released. She also crashed Ticketmaster when tickets for her Eras Tour went on sale.

Speaking of the Eras Tour, it shattered gross revenue records with a projected total of more than 2 billion. The second highest-grossing tour was Elton John’s Yellow Brick Road tour at $853 million.

I’m not overly impressed by money earned, but I am impressed that this woman, who could have skated by with an hour on stage, performed for more than three hours in more than 20 U.S. cities. By the time she completes her worldwide Eras Tour, she will have performed in 146 cities across five continents.

She even performed in a rainstorm — twice:

Once in Nashville and once in Massachusetts.

And let’s not forget how she took on Apple Music and Spotify. Or, more importantly, how she’s recreating some of her old albums so she can finally own her songs. Here is an explanation of what she accomplished. Whether you care a flip about Taylor Swift, what she did is historic, and this explanation is fascinating.

I’m not a Swiftie in the pop sense — one of her intense fans, the kind who buy all her merchandise, follow her on every known social media platform, and pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to attend her concerts.

No, I’m an adult Swiftie. I enjoy her music and know many of her songs by heart, but I mostly admire her as a trailblazer, as a smart and savvy business person, and as a writer who bares her soul.

She’s been criticized more than she’s been praised. As a woman, she’s vilified for being strong and outspoken.

Say what you may about her and her music, but Taylor Swift, who is only 33 years old, took on “the man” and she won. What will she accomplish next?

PS: I just learned that Jillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages wrote a piece about Taylor Swift that is more detailed and better than mine. I highly recommend that you read it:

© Dennett 2023

In response to the September Weeds & Wildflowers prompt, Sharing Secrets: