Taylor Swift Taught Me, A Man, How To Be A Man

We all know the world’s verdict: All that Taylor Swift writes about is heartbreak and handsome men she’s allegedly obsessed with. This is far from the truth, and there’s actual audible evidence backing it up, so I’m not even entirely sure why this is an argument.

As a straight dude, I was often embarrassed to admit my love for Taylor and her talents. It took me a while to come out of the closet as a “Swiftie.”

…Admittedly, it took me longer to come out of the closet as a trans man, and I’m pretty sure I got significantly less questioning and ridicule about that.

If I’m ever trying to get a cute girl’s attention, I’ve learned to not start out the conversation by showing her my Taylor Swift tattoos. For some reason that just screams “queer” as if it were into a megaphone.

I never really liked pop.

I liked Taylor Swift.

When she started transitioning into pop, I followed, as a true Swiftie does. And let me tell you, she did not disappoint. I suppose she used her anger and pain from her earth-shattering album RED being snubbed of a Grammy by Daft Punk. And let’s not even get into the K*nye West incident years prior. 1989 was her first full-pop album, her 5th album in her discography, and it was not what the kids say “a flop.” Every single that she released skyrocketed to number one on Billboard, and camped out there for quite a while. Swift fan or not, I know you can hum along to songs like ‘Blank Space’ and ‘Shake It Off.’

I could write about her forever, and I probably will in more articles to come, but here is the reason I’m writing this in the first place:

The heart-shattering country songs that she wrote in her young adult life were songs that, to this day, but people everywhere struggle to hold back tears. I’m not afraid to admit I tear up at many of her emotional ballads if I’m alone and having one of those days.

One day it hit me.

‘Dear John’ from her album Speak Now was playing, and I felt myself feeling quite the heavy emotions flowing. But.. I wasn’t feeling like I wanted to cry as if I was the girl in the song who’d had her heartbroken into a million pieces. To quote a lyric from one of two her new folky albums, evermore, that she wrote during quarantine, “your heart was glass, I dropped it.” There I was, frozen in time, feeling as if Taylor wrote the song personally about me. It made me want to drive straight over to my ex-girlfriend’s house, get on my hands and knees, and apologize for all of the pain I’d put her through.

And even to this day, from country, to pop, to this new folky-indie-pop sound that I’m digging more than anything, I get emotional during the sad songs because I remember the girls whose hearts I’d broken, whose souls I’d unintentionally played, and whose innocence I’d contaminated.

Thank you, Miss Taylor Swift, for teaching me how to reflect on myself every day, how to learn from my past, and how to be a better men.

I can remember the pain I put some very special women in my life through, and I remember it all too well. So excuse me while I go stream folklore + evermore for the rest of time.

In conclusion,

Taylor Swift isn’t just an artist, or a singer, or a “star” in the music scene. She is, and will always be, one of the greatest poets of all time. She just so happens to be a mastermind songwriter and the best bridge builder in the history of bridges. Her discography is a masterpiece that will live on forever, and with that, I rest my case.