Why is Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ such a hit? One former Taylor hater breaks it down.
MANILA, Philippines - As I type this, I’m listening to Shake It Off, wiggling my butt to “this. sick.beat.” As a just-resigned, nouveau poor freelance writer, I have no right to spend P850 on Taylor Swift’s just-released fifth studio album, so I don’t. Instead, I get creative and persuasive. I convince a more financially-stable friend to get it for me, using guilt-trip tactics (“Sige na! Wala ka namang regalo nung birthday ko last year! Pati Christmas! Tapos ako may gift sa ‘yo, ano ba ‘yan!) to achieve my goal: To spend an entire hour (Okay, an entire day) just savoring TSwizzle’s sapul-sa-soul lyrics and ’80s-tinged pop
melodies.
I wasn’t always like this.
TBH, I used to hate Taylor Swift. I remember tweeting something like, “Napaka landi nitong Taylor na ‘to. Lahat ng ex ginagawang cash cow kanta?!” I understand that that admission will probably cost me my life, considering she has one of the most rabid fans out there, but hear me out. I didn’t like her because her I’m-a-good-girl-from-Nashville image just clashed spectacularly with the ever-growing Men-Taylor-has-dated list. I found her signature, pa-cute, nganga look at awards ceremonies unbearable. And my inner Kanye was pissed when she bested Queen Bey for Video of the Year in the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. I remember saying, “WTF is this You Belong With Me crap?! How is this better than Single Ladies?!” I made the mistake of searching for the song on YouTube because, um, it’s the #StoryOfMyLife.
RELATING SO HARD
But despite the fact that my creepy stalker side could relate so hard to “She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts,” I still didn’t like her. I enjoyed her songs, Sparks Fly, most especially, but not her as an artist. I just wasn’t buying the whole bait-baitan act.
And then last year, when I wasn’t expecting it, I got my first dose of Swiftamine, i.e. that SNL-generated, imaginary medicine you take when it hits you that oh, shit, you officially now like Taylor Swift.
A former colleague who had extra tickets to Taylor’s RED Tour Manila concert asked me if I wanted to go. I said yes, not because I was dying to see her perform live, but because a work BFF named Happy (Taylor would like her name, yeah?) was absolutely livid with me for even thinking about refusing the free pass (“Gaga ka!” — Happy Lopez). Said work BFF created a RED playlist for me on Spotify and I remember being so blown away by the lyrics of Red and Begin Again. Aba, it’s no longer about the blondita cavorting with Prince Charming in a princess-y dress. She’s crossed over and now understands that “all love ever does is break and burn and end.” She uses colors to describe the ups and downs of loving someone and not once did I feel the need to barf. In short, it’s no longer just my creepy, stalker side that can relate to Taylor. I, as a person, could relate to her at last.
SHARING SPREE
When she released Shake It Off, there was a collective Facebook sharing spree in my former workplace. Even the most serious/strict editor I know proudly posted “Cause the haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate hate hate” as her status! Tay’s dance moves in the video are of the so-bad-it’s-good kind. Classic Taylor, you can say. Awkward but fun, confessional sans the cringe-factor, and 100% dedma.
She pulled a lot of sincere, business-savvy moves prior to and after the release of “1989.” Case in point: That beautiful, lengthy Instagram response to one of her fans, a bullied teenager: “Every time someone picks on me, I’ll think of you in the hopes that every time someone picks on you, you’ll think of me…and how we have this thread that connects us. Let them keep living in the darkness and we’ll keep walking in the sunlight. Forever on your side, Taylor.” Cue the awwws. Tay also hosted a listening party for 89 of her most loyal fans at her place, an unexpected surprise from one of the world’s biggest superstars. She also promised to donate all proceeds of her single “Welcome to New York” to public schools in NYC. Fans who buy the physical copies of the deluxe CD get 13 hipsterrific polaroids, three extra songs, plus voice memos of Taylor explaining her song writing process. Naïve country girl, she ain’t. This girl has the brain of a CEO and don’t you let her dating history make you think otherwise. So, yeah, sorry Spotify. Your we-want-Taylor-back playlist is cute and all, but she’s confident she’ll sell without your help, and she’s still winning.
On her album’s acknowledgement page, Tay simply says, “These songs were once about my life. They are now about yours.” In 12 short words, Taylor Swift tells you why “1989” is No. 1 all over the world: It’s the soundtrack of our lives, yours and mine.
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Tweet the author @irishddizon.
