Mr. CVD and I were out for a long overdue lunch yesterday when the subject of Taylor Swift came up. Mr. CVD asked why I can’t stand her so much that I’d write about her multiple times on this blog. (Little did he know his comment would cause me to write about her again.) My answer: perspective.
My problem with Taylor Swift isn’t her music per se and it isn’t her persona. It’s the fact that she lacks perspective about the things she writes about in her songs. To her, love is still a fantasy land where nothing takes work and everything just magically works out right. Her song “Fifteen” reminds me of something I would have written as a child because it lacks perspective. A nineteen year old singing about being fifteen in a song that was probably written when she was sixteen is the opposite of thoughtful to me.
Perspective is something I’ve been dealing a lot with lately. How much time is enough to have perspective on an issue? Does it take minutes? Days? Years? And when you get perspective, does it ever change?
The next writing piece that I’m working on (I’m hoping it’ll be long enough to be a novel) deals with an issue that I handled when I was in my late teens and early twenties. Is eight to ten years enough time to gain perspective on the issue? I have peace with it…but do I have perspective.
I guess that depends on how you define perspective. Is perspective a lightbulb over the head that occurs one day out of the blue? Is it something only time can bring? Is it knowledge gained over time? Or is it an epiphany that occurs all at once?
To me perspective is this: a gained knowledge, over time, that comes in spurts (and sometimes goes in spurts) and trickles just the same and eventually leads to an understanding of an issue. The key ingredients are time, understanding and an open mind.
So when Taylor Swift, or any 19 year old for that matter, sings about love, I take it with a bathtub full of salt. Most 19 year olds don’t know what love is, nor do they understand that happily ever after doesn’t exist unless you create it yourself–which takes a ton of work.
It’s not that I don’t like people that age or don’t trust them, I just know from experience that the choices they make aren’t based as much on reason and experience as the choices one makes when they’re 29 or 39 or 49 and so on. Hormones and a skewed world perspective often get in the way. There’s just no two ways about it.
Taking the time to look back on my 19 year old self, I’ve gained perspective on the issues that plagued me at the time. I just know that one day Ms. Swift will do the same. And maybe then her songs won’t seem so childish and stilted.
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How about you? What do you think about perspective?
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25 users responded in this post
I definitely look back on the perspective I had when I was younger, and sort of cringe, because in retrospect, it was narrow. However, the perspective I did have is what drove the decisions I made – I made the best decisions I could with what I felt or knew at the time. And if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be where I am right now – I’d be different, and probably have a completely different (not neccesarily better or worse, but different) perspective than I do now. So I don’t think our decisions on a whole are any better, or more reasonable at 29 or 39 or 49. I think we do the best with what we have, and while we say “Oh, if I’d known then what I know now…” our perspective is always limited by circumstances. We definitely gain perspective as we grow up but I’m not convinced that we don’t lose some at the same time. Dare I say I sometimes miss certain aspects of a younger, more naive perspective.
Now maybe I have to write my own post instead of taking up your comment section.
I think I’ve told you before that I actually (shamefully) like Taylor Swift because she’s catchy, but I think the message of “Love Story” is terrible.
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kim Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
I’m glad to have you take up my comment section any day of the week. Feel free.
I totally see your argument. I’m sure the decisions I make at 29 will be questioned by my 39 year old self. I guess, though, when you sing about the turmoil of being 15, you better have some perspective on the issue for me to take you seriously.
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the reason i like her so much is that i have enough bullshit in my life. being a grownup overall is hard work, not just the relationship/love part — though that certainly isn’t easy. for me, taylor is a little bit of an escape to the time that i, too, thought everything would just work out because it always had so far. before i had bills and debt and grown-up crap to take care of.
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kim Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I can see the escapism part of liking her. I don’t dislike her music, I just dislike the authority she claims over the subject matter.
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THANK YOU! That is exactly why I can’t stand her and no one else seemed to understand it. I can’t listen to her songs without wanting to shake some sense into her. I’m glad I’m not the only one.
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kim Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
I just want her to admit she doesn’t know everything. She seems like she thinks she knows everything.
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I agree with Rachel Not Rebecca is regards to cringing at my youth. What the hell was wrong with me? But, I suppose it’s a right-of-passage.
Good luck with your new writing adventure.
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I completely agree with you. I could rant and rave for hours about this topic. I feel so passionately about it because I was just SO STUPID at that age. Infuriating.
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kim Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
We were all so stupid at that age. It wasn’t just you. Or me.
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Being able to write like a fifteen year-old is never a good thing once you have passed fifteen.
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kim Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Agreed.
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Here’s an interesting question – you like Britney Spears. Have you always liked her, as in, liked her back in the beginning of her career when she lacked “perspective”?
It’s kind of hard for me to take Hollywood types seriously, regardless of their age. And it’s not because of general perspective, it’s because their perspective is so skewed from the average American. So I just try to enjoy what I enjoy. If I put too much thought into the people behind it, I’ll undoubtedly drive myself crazy!
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kim Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Actually, interestingly enough, I didn’t always like Britney. I used to despise her for years. Then I came around to the fact that she’s just peddling peppy pop music…not a lifestyle of anti-feminist feelings.
I guess the difference, for me, between Brit and Taylor is that Taylor writes her own songs and purports to know about things that she has no business knowing about at her age. Britney just sang songs written by others for the sake of gaining a dollar. There’s different things to be mad about at each one.
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I like Taylor a lot. I think that while sure, she is young and everyone has no idea what they’ll be like as an actual adult at 19, I like her sweetness. Plus, seeing her interviewed, I can see that she’s actually pretty mature and confident, which I like. I think I just enjoy the fact that there’s a young artist who isn’t creating really sad problems or writing about how much life sucks and seems to have a grip on herself.
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kim Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
I don’t dislike her as a person, I just get irritated by her song lyrics and the way in which she delivers them at times. As a person she seems pretty together.
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i agree about taylor swift for one. i mean, her songs are cute and all, but that’s about it.
and as far as perspective goes, i think you’re right on the money. i think it’s time, experience, openness of mind, and being willing to see the world how it really is. not like a 15 year old (or 19 year old) sees it.
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kim Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
It just takes some time to gain true perspective on an issue.
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I’m neither for or against Taylor, but I don’t find anything wrong with innocent, fantasy-land lyrics in this tensed-out, recession heavy society of ours. I’ve never heard the song but reading those lyrics, it look like something I could have totally related to at fifteen or sixteen, regardless of how I feel now at 29 (and learning that life is a mega-bitch) while looking back at my teenage years. You’re not expected to have such a wide view of life back then.
Actually, I guess I do lean on the side of liking her because she’s not out there whoring herself up and writing songs about screwing guys at the club or something (LOL), she’s a good role model (comparatively) and she seems to keep herself out of the Hollywood teen-star limelight enough. She seems responsible and level-headed, which IMO is rare in young stars these days…
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kim Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
That is true that comparatively she’s a good role model. I didn’t think of that.
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I think one of the things I like about her is that by listening to a lot of her songs it brings back of lot of the feelings I went through when I was younger. I do think so often young singers sing songs written by someone else that are about something they haven’t experience yet. And it almost seems fake that they’re singing about something they haven’t experience. I do see him in a few years looking back and cringing a bit over some of the lyrics she wrote as a teen, but I think its better to sing what you know.
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kim Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
It is good to sing what you know. But I guess it’s just the authority she seems to claim over the topics that gets me.
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I think that’s why I don’t like her too. I could never really put my finger on it, but yeah, it’s about perspective. And you’re right, it’s not just Taylor Swift who bugs me because of this issue.
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Dammit, I can’t reply on the original comment. In any case, I do agree with you. I cringe thinking about my own thoughts about love and life at 19. I’m sure when I’m 39 I’ll cringe about how I think right now!
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Oh Kim, Get some perspective on this (LOL). Being young, innocent and perhaps a little stupid is a blessing that we only get to experience for a brief part of our lives. I say, “Thank goodness for people who believe in Tinkerbell and everlasting love”. Sure, we all gain perspective over time – but don’t be surprised if you find that it eventually comes full circle.
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Dammit, I can’t comment on my original comment. In any case, I see your point…I cringe to have my thoughts on love put into song for the world at 19. Hell, I’ll probably cringe at how I think NOW when I’m 39!
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