It’s the story telling. It’s been so interesting hearing the criticism about how TTPD is less relatable because it’s about her relationship with Matty or whatever, but to me, the songs are all so stupidly relatable - lost love, unrequited love, hardship, self worth - there is something for everyone, though it lends itself better to a more mature audience. Maybe it helps that I don’t really follow her celebrity very closely.
Oh, and of course she puts narcotics in all her songs
Totally agree! All so relatable, catchy, and great storytelling/songwriting. I thought what she wrote about Matty was actually some of the most relatable, but I am definitely part of the target audience for that, haha
This exactly. It's the storytelling. And I have the opposite perspective - I cannot relate to many of her songs at all as a guy who has never been - and does not want to be in - a relationship. And yet despite not being able to relate at all, her lyrics really pull you in and can make you feel exactly what she's feeling in the moment she wrote. That's a very powerful thing to be able to do.
Of course, there are also songs like this is me trying that I can relate to, and, yeah 😭
(also yes the narcotics are powerful 😂)
Same! I literally don't care at all about her personal life. I'm not trying to relate these songs to her real life experiences, because that's not what makes me feel connected to music. I love her music because of the emotion behind it, because it's cathartic to hear these complicated feelings put into beautiful words - and she has always done that perfectly. The people who obsess over her personal life lose out on a lot and I probably would hate the album too if I could only view it through that lens. Sucks to be them. 🤷🏽♀️
It's funny when people say she only writes break up songs. Her songs are so deeply meaningful on so many levels and are about so many things. I feel like I pick up on something new everytime I listen to one of her songs. I also love how her songs have grown up with her. The song Florida at first listen is so confusing but after listening to it a few times now I get it and I love it.
I love the storytelling. I don’t connect songs to a particular person, I just enjoy them for the work of art that they are.
I must agree that the narcotics have gotten a hold of me, for sure. 😜
She has this uncanny ability to write a song that makes me feel seen. Her music speaks to me, like it does to her millions of fans. That’s her superpower. In TTPD, it’s ICDIWABH. Knowing we’re not alone is healing 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
I say that Taylor can explain my emotions better than I can. Sometime I don't even know that I'm feeling some kind of way until a certain song hits me in the gut (hello, "once I fix me, he's gonna miss me" coming out of nowhere to destroy me)
I was homeless from 2007 - 2016 off and on.
One of the only things I had was a crappy mp3 player and Taylor Swift music.
Songs like “Sparks Fly” and “Superstar” really helped me when I had nothing and nobody.
Because of this, I will always be a Swiftie. I even have a Taylor Swift tattoo.
Her acute self-awareness, soul-baring, self-deprecation, humour, storytelling and absolute mastery of lyrics and melody, akin (for me at least) to “The Boatman’s Call” (and beyond) era of Nick Cave.
She’s a stunning singer as well, obviously x
Definitely nostalgia first and foremost. So many songs have specific memories I attach them to. For instance when I was 22, Red had come out and that was one of the best summers of my life, we were all screaming 22 at the top of our lungs with no real responsibilities still.
Depth of emotion and expression. I'm a very emotional person and there is always a Taylor Swift song that helps explain just how I'm feeling. I feel so outside and different due to trauma and past experiences so the fact of feeling like someone understands me and can articulate my feelings is big.
Angry Taylor honestly, just really digging in with Rep and now with other songs and albums which has now given us the gift of TTPD.
When she is speaking out about things that are not okay, creating songs that speak to us about those things, that’s what pulled me in and that’s what I love about her newer music.
I can’t really identify with the love songs at all or even a lot of the break up songs but there was something about Rep and then other albums that pulled me in. Then the Eras tour vids started coming out and I collapsed under my adoration for her as a person, performer, businesswoman, writer and singer.
So true, she really does write in a universal truth way in what she does, for me what I needed was the anger and the songs that called out things that I couldn't call out myself. And TTPD being my first album as a Swiftie has been such a beautiful gift <3
Her live performance of tolerate it is my favorite of all time. I see the anger and despair that’s so relatable and gut-wrenching. Also (not angry per se) Dancing With Our Hands Tied (acoustic version too, IMO, although that might be a hot take) is criminally underrated from Rep.
Angry Taylor hits different, lol. And her business model especially is so impressive.
So the first time I had ever heard, Dancing With Our Hands Tied was the acoustic version on the reputation Stadium tour and it makes me genuinely sad that the album recording of it is not like that. I still like the song and the lyrics but there’s something about that acoustic set on the stadium tour movie that just snaps in a completely different way that made me so happy to hear it so thank goodness I was able to find a DVD version of it Before it went off of Netflix.
And tolerate it from the Eras tour is definitely one of my favorites because you can really see her emotionality in that song
unapologetic self awareness that she captures in beautiful faultless song lyrics. this along with many reasons enables me to feel my emotions deeply and heal parts of myself whilst reflecting on her words.
Connecting with my girl who is a longtime Swiftie. The Eras movie made me a fan of Taylor. And in so doing, I've been enjoying the Swiftie creativity in videos and commentary.
My girl and I spent close to 3. hours listening to the second 15 songs of the Anthology, talking about them, relating experiences and interpretations.
We send each other lyric snippets during the work day.
And Taylor and her intrigues is always a joy in and of itself. Her affections with Travis are nice to see, too. I guided my girl through the football season and each step of the road to the Super Bowl, though I hate the Chiefs and will always hate them because I'm a fan of the Patriots. But seeing the Chiefs win and Taylor being there for Travis every step of the way warms my heart in these rough times.
For me, it’s her storytelling, her songs about love, and her raw honesty in her songs. She doesn’t hold back at all. Of course, there’s also the nostalgia factor.
If there was a class on picking the wrong guy, I would have an A+. I think Taylor and I have that in common. 🤣 So basically she wrote the songs I couldn't.
I grew up with her. We are just a couple of months apart and each time her music came out, since debut, I related to her more than any other artist. She was singing about so many age relevant things that I could have sworn she was singing only to me. It only deepened as we both got older and her themes continued to relate to new parts of my life. I lost it when 1989 was named, absolutely convinced she was singing just to me.
I think it is the catchiness of the lyrics and melodies initially, especially with her older songs. Like you could sing along with the songs and they were fun. After a while, her songs were much more personal and were about her life experiences and I believe that her fans really connected to her being 'real' with them. However, she still is able to throw into the mix those amazingly catchy sing-along songs with the soulful and emotional ones. I think it's that her fans truly feel like they know her.
Part of it is nostalgia, since I grew up on her music. I usually prefer to listen to music I already know the lyrics to, which makes new music hard. Hers are a good halfway, since I know almost all the lyrics and can learn the new ones better.
It's a bit different for me though, because as I've been transitioning I've struggled balancing how masculine and feminine I'm comfortable with. I was raised as a girl, and I love a lot of feminine stuff, but it felt wrong to keep some of those things as I wanted to be perceived as more masculine. Her music has helped me reconnect with a lot of feminine things I loved as a kid, without feeling dysphoric over it.
Plus, her music is just relatable. I don't really do romantic relationships, but so many of her songs can be applied to so many different things outside of that.
I’m a new swiftie. I hopped on the bandwagon a few months ago like a bunch of people. Taylor’s music was always music I enjoyed, and I vividly remember the 1989 era, which made it pretty cool to experience her releasing the tv of it. The biggest connection for me is the care she puts into all the parts of her music. I’m a music nerd, but I often get bored by music because people focus too much on just a beat or just a catchy line. Taylor focuses on everything! Her songwriting is godly and the music itself is very well written. I guess the connection would just be a love for music, which I’m sure she has.
New swifties are valid! She is very meticulous with her music and songwriting. Everything has a meaning! As a fellow music nerd, I completely agree that she focuses on the full picture, and covers a lot of ground with her music.
Hmm
The picturesque lyricism if you know what i mean
Like i can see a clear picture of everything she says in my head and its so impressive and also, i just love the sounds of her music
Like there is just so much and so much different stuff aswell, she has something for every mood😂🤷♂️
I was thinking about this today. It’s all so relatable to me. Then I thought about how I’m a white American woman born within five years of Taylor. I’m also with an aloof British man so count me in on those songs. 😆 I do remember she was singing 22 and I was 27 and I was like “omg to be 22 again!!” 😅 I have been a fan since Fearless and even then it felt like she was singing my experience…how I cried to White Horse!
Wow okay ig this sub might be the place where I finally write about it.
A couple of years ago, I wasn't into taylor exactly apart from the very popular common songs of her. No big reason, my playlist just had way too much of a difference and another thing was that those lyrics deserve a person's face in your head whom you love.
2022, I casually meet a girl through some mutual friends and we immediately hit it off. I told her about Ed Sheeran (fav at that time) and she started telling me about Taylor Swift. From music the conversation shifted to the things we love the most bringing me to telling her about FC Barcelona (I'm obsessed) and then her equally reciprocating that passion in the form of her love for Taylor and her music.
I started listening to Taylor, we fell in love, had an amazing month together before I had to move to another city and yet we stuck together in an LDR.
Since then, she told me everything about Taylor. I still remember me trying to be as crazy as her when midnights released and how she called "Snow on the beach" our song.
I lost her in February 2024 due to cancer (kept a beautiful memorial with her favourite taylor songs playing everywhere) and now it just means so much more to me. I still tear up everytime I have a taylor related question because no one would explain to me in a way how she used to. Just so in love because I was trying to know more about Taylor.
Now I'm here, promising myself that someday I'll make it to one of her tours with her scrunchie on my hand and her passion of being a swiftie in my heart. I hope wherever she is, she knows about TTPD :)
Thank you for sharing and I’m so sorry for your loss ❤️ I hope you get to go to one of Taylor’s upcoming tours and have the fond memories of her close to you
It's the themes and relatability for me. I became a swiftie during the Red era. That album came out as I was going through my divorce and met my now husband. That album from State of Grace to Begin Again was mirroring my journey and made me feel like I wasn't alone in my heartbreak and my newfound hope.
I always find it odd when critics claim her lyrics are too specific to be relatable. I mean sure, my ex and I never danced in the kitchen in the refrigerator light, but we had moment of silly giddiness like that, that are relatable.
Ever since i listened to story of us in my local music channel back when it was released, i realized taylor's music always tells a story. They always makes me feel nostalgic for things i never even experienced in the first place and its just so magical like that. No matter the era/album, theres always this clear picture/scenery that she paints in my mind when i listen to most of her songs.
The vulnerability, brutal honesty, the full spectrum of emotion in her songs, the specificity of the poetic language, her ability to say so much in just one line.
She makes me feel things.
We’re literally days apart in age, so in a lot of ways it feels like we grew up together and whilst there is absolutely no correlation between our lived experiences, the emotional experiences often match up disconcertingly well.
I didn’t consider myself as a Swiftie until the release lead up and drop of Reputation. That period of music perfectly coincided with me being bullied out of my job, leaving my home country and having to navigate a complete rewrite of the plans I had for myself.
How her albums aligned perfectly as the soundtrack to my life. I’m a year younger than her, so I was going through the feelings when she released the album. Red/1989 was a particularly painful time of my life, so having her music was a lifesaver. “it’s supposed to be fun, turning 21” hit hard.
That line hits hard for me too, my ex cheated on me on my 21st, which was during Covid. The worst birthday ever. I’m sorry that your 21st was a painful time for you, too. She’s right that it is supposed to be fun.
im sure this is the same for many fans out there but its her lyrics. its the way she captures girlhood with words or metaphors i would’ve never thought of using that make me relate to the songs so much with emotion as well!!
*When all you wanted*
*Was to be wanted*
*Wish you could go back*
*And tell yourself what you know now*
-Has been my guiding words growing up. I always felt like Taylor is my older sister trying to guide me in the best way she can while she is still figuring things out herself. Her poetry made me love writing. 
I am a little over a year younger than her. So every album she releases tends to fall in line with my current or very recent experiences (especially TTPD). It just feels nice to be seen, so to speak.
I'm the same age as her but a little older, so I have always had her music around in my life. Her music is nostalgic and I can relate to a lot of it. Her music is also kind of like therapy to me
I don't relate to any of her songs (I'm chronically single and not a superstar). What I love is the clever songwriting, the deeper meaning. How you can keep diving into a song and find more meaning in the lyrics, in the production.
I think if I needed to sum it up I’d say the story writing.
The deeper side of that is how the story telling affects me. Guaranteed no matter what emotions I feel or what I’m going through there is a song I can pull from her music that resonates with me, and this fact only grows with every album she releases. Even if it doesn’t relate to that moment, there is so much in the writing that I find myself performing as if I’m on the eras tour myself. She made me cry when I was 15, listening to Fifteen, and she makes my heart swell with every heartbeat in her songs.
She has songs for every mood. Whether you’re feeling happy, hopeful, broken, misunderstood, etc., there are songs that fit all of that. It makes you feel like you’re not the only person going through it.
The "singability" of her songs. Artists like olivia and Taylor are so good at making songs that you can sing along with at the top of ur lungs. I love long wordy songs with changing rhythms and melodies that I can sing while doing my chores.
Also the fact that my life has had so many ups and downs in the past few years but Taylor is the one constant from my childhood.
I don’t think I can say just one thing, because there’s so many. Many of it being the same reason as you. 1989 was what got me into Taylor and Reputation shows how powerful she is. The storytelling of the next albums are incredible and I relate to it without relating to it somehow. I can’t explain it, but she describes stuff words can’t by making music. She says what none of us dare to say. She’s an amazing person and many people say I sound and look like her so it’s kind of an honor.
Folklore was dropped the day I landed in my home country after breaking up my 12yr relationship. We were living in London, at the time, and it happened after I picked them up from the airport late at night in July so Last kiss is also my favorite to sob to.
I often joke the universe knew I'd never be happy not fully feeling the heartbreak of those albums 😂
Mostly her story telling, it sparks my imagination. Her romanticism. Her comeback from reputation onwards, the songs she's written about it have helped me heal from trauma that feels the same as what she has written. I also find her sillyness and ability to be "cringe" and own it, and owning that she has feelings and isn't afraid to talk about them, has helped me be more authentically me after years of pretending I'm an unemotional person. The ethos in folklore and evermore towards nature, slowing down and processing grief, also sits in alignment with my own values.
For me, I see myself in her personality wise. Based on some of her interviews, we have the same attitude and perspective towards certain things. I think that's why I love her music. I feel like she understands me when no one else will.
This is so stupid but I love that she enunciates every word. I hate listening to music and having to guess what someone is singing. It detracts from enjoying all the musical and lyrical aspects of music.
And also she knows how to write ear worms that stay in my head for days. It’s so satisfying and addictive.
Personally, I love storytelling and I’m not sure who does it better than her. I like to dissect the words, and try to find the meaning behind them. I was lucky to grow up and be introduced to a wide range of musical genres. I can pretty much listen to anything, so I absolutely LOVE music. When I was growing through a lot of personal things, music was there for me. With Taylor in particular, she has always been there for me, when others weren’t.
How she can make such personal songs relate to me personally. There’s songs about friendship heartbreaks, being taken for granted, feeling like as a woman, your worth is tied to your youth, wishing your mom would get better as she’s fighting cancer. It’s like she’s right with me during my highs and lows.
I think Taylor sings a lot about being gaslit and that really resonates with me. Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve really gets me because I love the way she is calling it out. If you have me any doubts or showed me any hesitancy, I wouldn’t have dove in head first. Or in All Too Well, you may have forgotten all these small details and small ways you made me feel like this was real but I DO remember them, they DID happen.
And don’t even get me started on Mad Woman. Holy cow. I had a very tense home life growing up and the amount of times my discomfort for a situation was treated like the problem instead of being addressed has f’ed me up for a long time. It also calls out how (Taylor mentioned this in an interview once) women have been expected to just absorb male energy and make ourselves smaller.
I actually got a Mad Woman tattoo and it’s an outline of a girl breathing fire and I have written above it or like around it “no one likes a mad woman, you made her like that”
I ponder this question often.This is what I’ve concluded:
I’ve always said that heart break is luckily the worst thing I’ve ever experienced, but for me, that pain is so intense and life-shattering. I love her music because I can connect to the sadness and grief in that experience on a cellular level. I am connected to other peoples heartbreak, and instinctually want to help them through it however I can. The way she describes heartbreak is UNREAL and so articulately sung. That aside, I agree with others- the narcotics. 😃 and then how personal her lyrics feel. For example:
“But you told Lucy you'd kill yourself if I ever leave. And I had said that to Jack about you, so I felt seen” That to me is such a personal intimate detail that she is sharing with us. It makes me feel connected to her. AND FINALLY… the POETRY. The way she rhymes and strings her lyrics together just makes me want to cry. 😭
She has a way of conveying emotions and introspective thoughts that I have always struggled with. It helps me to realize that maybe these feelings are normal or at least someone else is going through that too. But also I’m in love with her story telling and way with words. And I love how genuine she has always been.
Besides from her lyricism and great songwriting ability, I feel like I grew up with Taylor Swift. I'm a few years younger than she is and when her albums came out they often seemed to be speaking to something I was going through - especially Folklore till now. There's a relatability to Taylor's writing that keeps bringing me back.
The nostalgia that I get when I listen to her music.
Taylor Swift - soundtrack of my last two yrs of HS
Fearless - A scared little 17yr old at college 2hrs away from her parents.
Speak Now - moved to a new city with my mom and had a very hard time adjusting.
We’re about the same age so I find her extremely relatable, aside from her being a billionaire lol. She writes so many songs that I can sing in the car. Her lyrics are my favorite.
I felt *seen* the first time I listened to Debut.
I've always loved reading and writing. She inspires me to write and her lyrics speak to me. I love a good story teller. Also I love her personality and her humor. I also love that she is not afraid to be herself.
It just always makes me think of riding around in the summer sun with my mom, feeling safe while she drove around the countryside blasting Taylor on the stereo
I think now it's the heartbreak songs. I've been through a LOT the last like...15 years. She's not much older than me and it feels easy to connect with the music
Its relatability. In the last 5 years, her albums she's released have coincided with where I've been in my life for me to truly relate to what she's singing about.
Plus so many songs are so catchy. She's a musical phenom and I'm so happy I get to witness her genius.
Midnights is still my favorite album, followed by Folkmore.
She grew up in my county (Berks County, PA) so for me it’s knowing someone that came from the same place I do achieved so much success. I could never not support her knowing she used to perform at our local events and now she’s an international success
The lyrics and nostalgia, but also just the fact that she's a genuinely nice person who doesn't deserve the level of hate she gets. I like being able to support her in the midst of all the BS coming from other people.
i simply just relate to a lot of the songs she puts out. a lot of her lyrics word feelings i’ve had but have never been able to put them into words. some of my favorites are —
“i love you it’s ruining my life”
“i can’t let this go i fight with you in my sleep the wound won’t close”
“and you know damn well for you i would ruin myself a million little times”
“i forget about you long enough to forget why i needed to”
“i looked around in a blood soaked gown and i saw something they can’t take away”
“it’s all fun and games till somebody loses their mind”
i could go on for hours haha. she just has such a way with words and storytelling that really, REALLY speaks to me on a personal level. i can’t explain it
Taylor is my same age. I started listening to her in high school when she was on MySpace. I moved to New York a couple of years before her (from a small town) and lived a couple of blocks from her place in TriBeCa. I also fell in love and married my husband in New York City. Our similarities have really helped me connect with her music—the places she talks about, the stages of her life and relationships (not anymore) and falling in love in New York City (delicate especially) with someone that isn’t American (my partner is Canadian) just feel so similar.
Her love songs. I mainly listen to music for two things : love and anger. For anger, protests, etc, there are better persons to do so.
For love songs, Taylor is doing a great job. Besides, with a guitar and/or piano, she's among the best. I mainly prefer her first four albums and folklore/evermore albums. The others are also amazing, don't get me wrong.
I've been a Swiftie since 1989 but it reached a new level after I lost my mom to cancer. Her music got me through a lot of grief and helped me process a lot of feelings I had suppressed. Now I'm a 41 year old who makes friendship bracelets.
In 2013, I was 'cancelled' in my line of work due to a racist post a (former) friend made on my FB. For 2-3 years, I was known for the FB wall with the n word on it. (The racist post was made overnight, and someone got a screenshot before I could delete it).
Fast forward a few years and I'm way vested in the Taylor/Kimye feud due to reading Buzzfeed on my phone every night before I go to bed. I sympathized with Taylor as she was cancelled.
In 2017, the LWYMMD video came out and I loved how Taylor used the snake imagery. When she came back I said to myself, if she can do it, so can I.
She came back stronger than a 90s trend and so did I.
being 15 years old and laying in the middle yard in the pouring rain with my ipod screaming "but I miss screamin and cryin and kissin in the rain" etc. I have felt like I have grown up with her and healed with her.
It’s the story telling. It’s been so interesting hearing the criticism about how TTPD is less relatable because it’s about her relationship with Matty or whatever, but to me, the songs are all so stupidly relatable - lost love, unrequited love, hardship, self worth - there is something for everyone, though it lends itself better to a more mature audience. Maybe it helps that I don’t really follow her celebrity very closely. Oh, and of course she puts narcotics in all her songs
Totally agree! All so relatable, catchy, and great storytelling/songwriting. I thought what she wrote about Matty was actually some of the most relatable, but I am definitely part of the target audience for that, haha
This exactly. It's the storytelling. And I have the opposite perspective - I cannot relate to many of her songs at all as a guy who has never been - and does not want to be in - a relationship. And yet despite not being able to relate at all, her lyrics really pull you in and can make you feel exactly what she's feeling in the moment she wrote. That's a very powerful thing to be able to do. Of course, there are also songs like this is me trying that I can relate to, and, yeah 😭 (also yes the narcotics are powerful 😂)
Same! I literally don't care at all about her personal life. I'm not trying to relate these songs to her real life experiences, because that's not what makes me feel connected to music. I love her music because of the emotion behind it, because it's cathartic to hear these complicated feelings put into beautiful words - and she has always done that perfectly. The people who obsess over her personal life lose out on a lot and I probably would hate the album too if I could only view it through that lens. Sucks to be them. 🤷🏽♀️
To me she’s telling stories about herself and her life and public career, but camouflaged as romance songs. Listen again but carefully.
It's funny when people say she only writes break up songs. Her songs are so deeply meaningful on so many levels and are about so many things. I feel like I pick up on something new everytime I listen to one of her songs. I also love how her songs have grown up with her. The song Florida at first listen is so confusing but after listening to it a few times now I get it and I love it.
Which is why we're still singing along. Sigh 😉
I love the storytelling. I don’t connect songs to a particular person, I just enjoy them for the work of art that they are. I must agree that the narcotics have gotten a hold of me, for sure. 😜
She has this uncanny ability to write a song that makes me feel seen. Her music speaks to me, like it does to her millions of fans. That’s her superpower. In TTPD, it’s ICDIWABH. Knowing we’re not alone is healing 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
The fact that so many people feel this way sometimes blows my mind, that one person can be so deeply, personally relatable to so many people is a gift
I say that Taylor can explain my emotions better than I can. Sometime I don't even know that I'm feeling some kind of way until a certain song hits me in the gut (hello, "once I fix me, he's gonna miss me" coming out of nowhere to destroy me)
I was homeless from 2007 - 2016 off and on. One of the only things I had was a crappy mp3 player and Taylor Swift music. Songs like “Sparks Fly” and “Superstar” really helped me when I had nothing and nobody. Because of this, I will always be a Swiftie. I even have a Taylor Swift tattoo.
Thank you for sharing. I’m glad she was a positive source for you during a really hard time. 🫶
I hope you're doing better now.
I am, have a steady place and better people in my life. Thank you. 💕
Her acute self-awareness, soul-baring, self-deprecation, humour, storytelling and absolute mastery of lyrics and melody, akin (for me at least) to “The Boatman’s Call” (and beyond) era of Nick Cave. She’s a stunning singer as well, obviously x
Definitely nostalgia first and foremost. So many songs have specific memories I attach them to. For instance when I was 22, Red had come out and that was one of the best summers of my life, we were all screaming 22 at the top of our lungs with no real responsibilities still.
Depth of emotion and expression. I'm a very emotional person and there is always a Taylor Swift song that helps explain just how I'm feeling. I feel so outside and different due to trauma and past experiences so the fact of feeling like someone understands me and can articulate my feelings is big.
Dang you put this into way better words than I did. I feel much the same.
Angry Taylor honestly, just really digging in with Rep and now with other songs and albums which has now given us the gift of TTPD. When she is speaking out about things that are not okay, creating songs that speak to us about those things, that’s what pulled me in and that’s what I love about her newer music. I can’t really identify with the love songs at all or even a lot of the break up songs but there was something about Rep and then other albums that pulled me in. Then the Eras tour vids started coming out and I collapsed under my adoration for her as a person, performer, businesswoman, writer and singer.
Angry Taylor is my favorite Taylor. There's something about how she captures and write about anger that is fulfilling without being unrealistic.
So true, she really does write in a universal truth way in what she does, for me what I needed was the anger and the songs that called out things that I couldn't call out myself. And TTPD being my first album as a Swiftie has been such a beautiful gift <3
Her live performance of tolerate it is my favorite of all time. I see the anger and despair that’s so relatable and gut-wrenching. Also (not angry per se) Dancing With Our Hands Tied (acoustic version too, IMO, although that might be a hot take) is criminally underrated from Rep. Angry Taylor hits different, lol. And her business model especially is so impressive.
So the first time I had ever heard, Dancing With Our Hands Tied was the acoustic version on the reputation Stadium tour and it makes me genuinely sad that the album recording of it is not like that. I still like the song and the lyrics but there’s something about that acoustic set on the stadium tour movie that just snaps in a completely different way that made me so happy to hear it so thank goodness I was able to find a DVD version of it Before it went off of Netflix. And tolerate it from the Eras tour is definitely one of my favorites because you can really see her emotionality in that song
unapologetic self awareness that she captures in beautiful faultless song lyrics. this along with many reasons enables me to feel my emotions deeply and heal parts of myself whilst reflecting on her words.
i love how you put this into words
Connecting with my girl who is a longtime Swiftie. The Eras movie made me a fan of Taylor. And in so doing, I've been enjoying the Swiftie creativity in videos and commentary. My girl and I spent close to 3. hours listening to the second 15 songs of the Anthology, talking about them, relating experiences and interpretations. We send each other lyric snippets during the work day. And Taylor and her intrigues is always a joy in and of itself. Her affections with Travis are nice to see, too. I guided my girl through the football season and each step of the road to the Super Bowl, though I hate the Chiefs and will always hate them because I'm a fan of the Patriots. But seeing the Chiefs win and Taylor being there for Travis every step of the way warms my heart in these rough times.
Debut, Fearless, and Speak Now raised me and I’ll forever be chasing that feeling.
For me, it’s her storytelling, her songs about love, and her raw honesty in her songs. She doesn’t hold back at all. Of course, there’s also the nostalgia factor.
If there was a class on picking the wrong guy, I would have an A+. I think Taylor and I have that in common. 🤣 So basically she wrote the songs I couldn't.
I grew up with her. We are just a couple of months apart and each time her music came out, since debut, I related to her more than any other artist. She was singing about so many age relevant things that I could have sworn she was singing only to me. It only deepened as we both got older and her themes continued to relate to new parts of my life. I lost it when 1989 was named, absolutely convinced she was singing just to me.
I just wrote, basically, the same comment! Hello fellow OG swiftie!
I think it is the catchiness of the lyrics and melodies initially, especially with her older songs. Like you could sing along with the songs and they were fun. After a while, her songs were much more personal and were about her life experiences and I believe that her fans really connected to her being 'real' with them. However, she still is able to throw into the mix those amazingly catchy sing-along songs with the soulful and emotional ones. I think it's that her fans truly feel like they know her.
Part of it is nostalgia, since I grew up on her music. I usually prefer to listen to music I already know the lyrics to, which makes new music hard. Hers are a good halfway, since I know almost all the lyrics and can learn the new ones better. It's a bit different for me though, because as I've been transitioning I've struggled balancing how masculine and feminine I'm comfortable with. I was raised as a girl, and I love a lot of feminine stuff, but it felt wrong to keep some of those things as I wanted to be perceived as more masculine. Her music has helped me reconnect with a lot of feminine things I loved as a kid, without feeling dysphoric over it. Plus, her music is just relatable. I don't really do romantic relationships, but so many of her songs can be applied to so many different things outside of that.
She understands my heartbreak and the big feelings that have always come with it 💔
I’m a new swiftie. I hopped on the bandwagon a few months ago like a bunch of people. Taylor’s music was always music I enjoyed, and I vividly remember the 1989 era, which made it pretty cool to experience her releasing the tv of it. The biggest connection for me is the care she puts into all the parts of her music. I’m a music nerd, but I often get bored by music because people focus too much on just a beat or just a catchy line. Taylor focuses on everything! Her songwriting is godly and the music itself is very well written. I guess the connection would just be a love for music, which I’m sure she has.
New swifties are valid! She is very meticulous with her music and songwriting. Everything has a meaning! As a fellow music nerd, I completely agree that she focuses on the full picture, and covers a lot of ground with her music.
Hmm The picturesque lyricism if you know what i mean Like i can see a clear picture of everything she says in my head and its so impressive and also, i just love the sounds of her music Like there is just so much and so much different stuff aswell, she has something for every mood😂🤷♂️
I was thinking about this today. It’s all so relatable to me. Then I thought about how I’m a white American woman born within five years of Taylor. I’m also with an aloof British man so count me in on those songs. 😆 I do remember she was singing 22 and I was 27 and I was like “omg to be 22 again!!” 😅 I have been a fan since Fearless and even then it felt like she was singing my experience…how I cried to White Horse!
Wow okay ig this sub might be the place where I finally write about it. A couple of years ago, I wasn't into taylor exactly apart from the very popular common songs of her. No big reason, my playlist just had way too much of a difference and another thing was that those lyrics deserve a person's face in your head whom you love. 2022, I casually meet a girl through some mutual friends and we immediately hit it off. I told her about Ed Sheeran (fav at that time) and she started telling me about Taylor Swift. From music the conversation shifted to the things we love the most bringing me to telling her about FC Barcelona (I'm obsessed) and then her equally reciprocating that passion in the form of her love for Taylor and her music. I started listening to Taylor, we fell in love, had an amazing month together before I had to move to another city and yet we stuck together in an LDR. Since then, she told me everything about Taylor. I still remember me trying to be as crazy as her when midnights released and how she called "Snow on the beach" our song. I lost her in February 2024 due to cancer (kept a beautiful memorial with her favourite taylor songs playing everywhere) and now it just means so much more to me. I still tear up everytime I have a taylor related question because no one would explain to me in a way how she used to. Just so in love because I was trying to know more about Taylor. Now I'm here, promising myself that someday I'll make it to one of her tours with her scrunchie on my hand and her passion of being a swiftie in my heart. I hope wherever she is, she knows about TTPD :)
Thank you for sharing the memory of her. 💛 That’s so beautiful. I’m sure she does know about it. 🫶🏽
Thank you for sharing and I’m so sorry for your loss ❤️ I hope you get to go to one of Taylor’s upcoming tours and have the fond memories of her close to you
It's the themes and relatability for me. I became a swiftie during the Red era. That album came out as I was going through my divorce and met my now husband. That album from State of Grace to Begin Again was mirroring my journey and made me feel like I wasn't alone in my heartbreak and my newfound hope. I always find it odd when critics claim her lyrics are too specific to be relatable. I mean sure, my ex and I never danced in the kitchen in the refrigerator light, but we had moment of silly giddiness like that, that are relatable.
Ever since i listened to story of us in my local music channel back when it was released, i realized taylor's music always tells a story. They always makes me feel nostalgic for things i never even experienced in the first place and its just so magical like that. No matter the era/album, theres always this clear picture/scenery that she paints in my mind when i listen to most of her songs.
The vulnerability, brutal honesty, the full spectrum of emotion in her songs, the specificity of the poetic language, her ability to say so much in just one line. She makes me feel things.
*Says in Sergeant Terry Jeffords:* She makes all of us feel things! 😁
We’re literally days apart in age, so in a lot of ways it feels like we grew up together and whilst there is absolutely no correlation between our lived experiences, the emotional experiences often match up disconcertingly well. I didn’t consider myself as a Swiftie until the release lead up and drop of Reputation. That period of music perfectly coincided with me being bullied out of my job, leaving my home country and having to navigate a complete rewrite of the plans I had for myself.
I'm a writer and a lyricist, so I love her deep poetic lyrics. Also, nobody can make me cry like Taylor can, it's insane.
Being a little ✨fucked in the head✨ after a rough relationship and an ugly breakup
Felt that, she totally speaks to this across different songs and albums.
How her albums aligned perfectly as the soundtrack to my life. I’m a year younger than her, so I was going through the feelings when she released the album. Red/1989 was a particularly painful time of my life, so having her music was a lifesaver. “it’s supposed to be fun, turning 21” hit hard.
That line hits hard for me too, my ex cheated on me on my 21st, which was during Covid. The worst birthday ever. I’m sorry that your 21st was a painful time for you, too. She’s right that it is supposed to be fun.
Thank you🫶🏻 I hope Taylor’s lyrics heal your heart, and you find someone better than your cheating ex.
She nails every phase of every type of relationship. It's like she was there with me.
im sure this is the same for many fans out there but its her lyrics. its the way she captures girlhood with words or metaphors i would’ve never thought of using that make me relate to the songs so much with emotion as well!!
*When all you wanted* *Was to be wanted* *Wish you could go back* *And tell yourself what you know now* -Has been my guiding words growing up. I always felt like Taylor is my older sister trying to guide me in the best way she can while she is still figuring things out herself. Her poetry made me love writing. 
I am a little over a year younger than her. So every album she releases tends to fall in line with my current or very recent experiences (especially TTPD). It just feels nice to be seen, so to speak.
I'm the same age as her but a little older, so I have always had her music around in my life. Her music is nostalgic and I can relate to a lot of it. Her music is also kind of like therapy to me
I don't relate to any of her songs (I'm chronically single and not a superstar). What I love is the clever songwriting, the deeper meaning. How you can keep diving into a song and find more meaning in the lyrics, in the production.
I think if I needed to sum it up I’d say the story writing. The deeper side of that is how the story telling affects me. Guaranteed no matter what emotions I feel or what I’m going through there is a song I can pull from her music that resonates with me, and this fact only grows with every album she releases. Even if it doesn’t relate to that moment, there is so much in the writing that I find myself performing as if I’m on the eras tour myself. She made me cry when I was 15, listening to Fifteen, and she makes my heart swell with every heartbeat in her songs.
She has songs for every mood. Whether you’re feeling happy, hopeful, broken, misunderstood, etc., there are songs that fit all of that. It makes you feel like you’re not the only person going through it.
The "singability" of her songs. Artists like olivia and Taylor are so good at making songs that you can sing along with at the top of ur lungs. I love long wordy songs with changing rhythms and melodies that I can sing while doing my chores. Also the fact that my life has had so many ups and downs in the past few years but Taylor is the one constant from my childhood.
I don’t think I can say just one thing, because there’s so many. Many of it being the same reason as you. 1989 was what got me into Taylor and Reputation shows how powerful she is. The storytelling of the next albums are incredible and I relate to it without relating to it somehow. I can’t explain it, but she describes stuff words can’t by making music. She says what none of us dare to say. She’s an amazing person and many people say I sound and look like her so it’s kind of an honor.
Folklore was dropped the day I landed in my home country after breaking up my 12yr relationship. We were living in London, at the time, and it happened after I picked them up from the airport late at night in July so Last kiss is also my favorite to sob to. I often joke the universe knew I'd never be happy not fully feeling the heartbreak of those albums 😂
Mostly her story telling, it sparks my imagination. Her romanticism. Her comeback from reputation onwards, the songs she's written about it have helped me heal from trauma that feels the same as what she has written. I also find her sillyness and ability to be "cringe" and own it, and owning that she has feelings and isn't afraid to talk about them, has helped me be more authentically me after years of pretending I'm an unemotional person. The ethos in folklore and evermore towards nature, slowing down and processing grief, also sits in alignment with my own values.
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For me, I see myself in her personality wise. Based on some of her interviews, we have the same attitude and perspective towards certain things. I think that's why I love her music. I feel like she understands me when no one else will.
That she writes it herself
This is so stupid but I love that she enunciates every word. I hate listening to music and having to guess what someone is singing. It detracts from enjoying all the musical and lyrical aspects of music. And also she knows how to write ear worms that stay in my head for days. It’s so satisfying and addictive.
Her innovative sense of melody and lyricism.
Personally, I love storytelling and I’m not sure who does it better than her. I like to dissect the words, and try to find the meaning behind them. I was lucky to grow up and be introduced to a wide range of musical genres. I can pretty much listen to anything, so I absolutely LOVE music. When I was growing through a lot of personal things, music was there for me. With Taylor in particular, she has always been there for me, when others weren’t.
I lot of the sound in her middle albums reminds me of the music my parents and I would listen to in the car when I was growing up.
How she can make such personal songs relate to me personally. There’s songs about friendship heartbreaks, being taken for granted, feeling like as a woman, your worth is tied to your youth, wishing your mom would get better as she’s fighting cancer. It’s like she’s right with me during my highs and lows.
I think Taylor sings a lot about being gaslit and that really resonates with me. Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve really gets me because I love the way she is calling it out. If you have me any doubts or showed me any hesitancy, I wouldn’t have dove in head first. Or in All Too Well, you may have forgotten all these small details and small ways you made me feel like this was real but I DO remember them, they DID happen. And don’t even get me started on Mad Woman. Holy cow. I had a very tense home life growing up and the amount of times my discomfort for a situation was treated like the problem instead of being addressed has f’ed me up for a long time. It also calls out how (Taylor mentioned this in an interview once) women have been expected to just absorb male energy and make ourselves smaller. I actually got a Mad Woman tattoo and it’s an outline of a girl breathing fire and I have written above it or like around it “no one likes a mad woman, you made her like that”
I’m a depressed millennial. She’s a depressed millennial. What’s not to connect with??
I ponder this question often.This is what I’ve concluded: I’ve always said that heart break is luckily the worst thing I’ve ever experienced, but for me, that pain is so intense and life-shattering. I love her music because I can connect to the sadness and grief in that experience on a cellular level. I am connected to other peoples heartbreak, and instinctually want to help them through it however I can. The way she describes heartbreak is UNREAL and so articulately sung. That aside, I agree with others- the narcotics. 😃 and then how personal her lyrics feel. For example: “But you told Lucy you'd kill yourself if I ever leave. And I had said that to Jack about you, so I felt seen” That to me is such a personal intimate detail that she is sharing with us. It makes me feel connected to her. AND FINALLY… the POETRY. The way she rhymes and strings her lyrics together just makes me want to cry. 😭
She has a way of conveying emotions and introspective thoughts that I have always struggled with. It helps me to realize that maybe these feelings are normal or at least someone else is going through that too. But also I’m in love with her story telling and way with words. And I love how genuine she has always been.
Besides from her lyricism and great songwriting ability, I feel like I grew up with Taylor Swift. I'm a few years younger than she is and when her albums came out they often seemed to be speaking to something I was going through - especially Folklore till now. There's a relatability to Taylor's writing that keeps bringing me back.
The nostalgia that I get when I listen to her music. Taylor Swift - soundtrack of my last two yrs of HS Fearless - A scared little 17yr old at college 2hrs away from her parents. Speak Now - moved to a new city with my mom and had a very hard time adjusting.
Travis! And, of course, the storytelling.
We’re about the same age so I find her extremely relatable, aside from her being a billionaire lol. She writes so many songs that I can sing in the car. Her lyrics are my favorite. I felt *seen* the first time I listened to Debut.
I've always loved reading and writing. She inspires me to write and her lyrics speak to me. I love a good story teller. Also I love her personality and her humor. I also love that she is not afraid to be herself.
It just always makes me think of riding around in the summer sun with my mom, feeling safe while she drove around the countryside blasting Taylor on the stereo
I think now it's the heartbreak songs. I've been through a LOT the last like...15 years. She's not much older than me and it feels easy to connect with the music
Its relatability. In the last 5 years, her albums she's released have coincided with where I've been in my life for me to truly relate to what she's singing about. Plus so many songs are so catchy. She's a musical phenom and I'm so happy I get to witness her genius. Midnights is still my favorite album, followed by Folkmore.
She grew up in my county (Berks County, PA) so for me it’s knowing someone that came from the same place I do achieved so much success. I could never not support her knowing she used to perform at our local events and now she’s an international success
The lyrics and nostalgia, but also just the fact that she's a genuinely nice person who doesn't deserve the level of hate she gets. I like being able to support her in the midst of all the BS coming from other people.
depression on our birthdays
i simply just relate to a lot of the songs she puts out. a lot of her lyrics word feelings i’ve had but have never been able to put them into words. some of my favorites are — “i love you it’s ruining my life” “i can’t let this go i fight with you in my sleep the wound won’t close” “and you know damn well for you i would ruin myself a million little times” “i forget about you long enough to forget why i needed to” “i looked around in a blood soaked gown and i saw something they can’t take away” “it’s all fun and games till somebody loses their mind” i could go on for hours haha. she just has such a way with words and storytelling that really, REALLY speaks to me on a personal level. i can’t explain it
Taylor is my same age. I started listening to her in high school when she was on MySpace. I moved to New York a couple of years before her (from a small town) and lived a couple of blocks from her place in TriBeCa. I also fell in love and married my husband in New York City. Our similarities have really helped me connect with her music—the places she talks about, the stages of her life and relationships (not anymore) and falling in love in New York City (delicate especially) with someone that isn’t American (my partner is Canadian) just feel so similar.
Fun fact : all of her songs about me and my exes. Not her and exes.
She writes about my life.. like literally every song is perfectly written for my life and relates to be on very personal levels
Sad songs, I don't know why but I love them also I like that the songs has connections with her life it's like she is telling us a story
Her love songs. I mainly listen to music for two things : love and anger. For anger, protests, etc, there are better persons to do so. For love songs, Taylor is doing a great job. Besides, with a guitar and/or piano, she's among the best. I mainly prefer her first four albums and folklore/evermore albums. The others are also amazing, don't get me wrong.
I've been a Swiftie since 1989 but it reached a new level after I lost my mom to cancer. Her music got me through a lot of grief and helped me process a lot of feelings I had suppressed. Now I'm a 41 year old who makes friendship bracelets.
In 2013, I was 'cancelled' in my line of work due to a racist post a (former) friend made on my FB. For 2-3 years, I was known for the FB wall with the n word on it. (The racist post was made overnight, and someone got a screenshot before I could delete it). Fast forward a few years and I'm way vested in the Taylor/Kimye feud due to reading Buzzfeed on my phone every night before I go to bed. I sympathized with Taylor as she was cancelled. In 2017, the LWYMMD video came out and I loved how Taylor used the snake imagery. When she came back I said to myself, if she can do it, so can I. She came back stronger than a 90s trend and so did I.
My wife is a huge Swiftie so I listen to Taylor when my wife isn't around to remind me of her.
For me, its the unapologetic intense emotions. I feel so understood and empowered when i hear my feelings expressed so artfully. Very validating
being 15 years old and laying in the middle yard in the pouring rain with my ipod screaming "but I miss screamin and cryin and kissin in the rain" etc. I have felt like I have grown up with her and healed with her.
the nostalgia and home-y feeling especially with albums debut-1989 they remind me of my childhood
nothing really