I accidentally posted something on Threads yesterday that took off in a way I absolutely never imagined! And by accident, I mean that I never intended for it to get such a big reaction. All I did was ask people on Threads where I should start if I wanted to give Taylor Swift’s music a try. I have never been a fan. Didn’t hate her as some do, just felt rather indifferent about the songs of hers that they play on the radio. Never got into the hype. But when I saw a news story about the excitement around the new album she just announced, I thought twice. I know she writes all her own songs, and given that I think of myself as a writer and would love to have fans one day, I thought I’d give her music a chance. I certainly am not musically inclined—save for playing the trumpet in middle school—I do recognize the impact music has on so many aspects of life. I’ve talked before about my “Inspirational Playlist” and how healing it has been to listen to those songs on repeat. Taylor Swift is that artist for a lot of people.
So I posted a genuine question asking where to start. The response was incredibly overwhelming. The Swifties came for me, in a very good way. Just look at the views, likes, and comments from this screenshot that I took about ten minutes ago. As I type this, I am still getting notifications about that post.
From reading all the comments, I came up with an idea. Many of the people said I should do a reaction video as I listen to her songs for the first time. They said Swifties love seeing videos like that. I’m just not good at videos. I made two random ones recently and it just took a lot longer to make than I thought. I’m much better with the written word. So I decided I’m going to listen to all of her albums in chronological order and blog about it. I got some great ideas of where to start and what to listen to first if I like a particular genre/style of music. But I think I’d really like to start at the beginning and see how her music has evolved.
I’m going to do this “Julie and Julia” style. I’ll listen to each album and write down my thoughts as I listen. Then I’ll write one post after I finish each album with my reflections and thoughts. Julie Powell gave herself one year to cook her way through Julia Child’s famous cookbook. I’m going to give myself until October 2nd to listen to all of Taylor Swift’s discography (is it still called that? Am I dating myself with that term?). That way, when her new album is released on October 3, I can listen with the rest of the Swifties and see how my reaction compares to theirs. Who knows, maybe by that point I will consider myself a Swifty along with them. I’m certainly open to the possibility.
Here I go…
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