Remember she’s growing up too. An editorial.

I haven’t done an editorial in a while, due to that and to the recent flood of subscriptions to this blog I feel I should explain how these work. In almost every article in this site, I report on news that I read about on the web using my own style, adding commentary and naming my source. Editorials are different and much closer to the nature of a blog, it’s all my opinion and it’s all my writing. That’s why I name myself as a source. An editorial and a rant are close to being the same thing, or at least they are in a blog such as mine.

So, when you see an entry of mine that says An editorial, you can bet it’s going to be wordy 😉

I used to call Taylor the Fearless One (nowadays I tend to use the Outspoken One instead). I still like to use that nickname from time to time, but I have to accept that she’s growing up. This means different things to different people, but I realize it tends to scare the old school fans (for the record, I don’t consider myself old school, just old). That is because many of Taylor’s harsher critics are known to believe that she should “grow up” and stop believing in fairy tales. Growing up does mean moving forward, and sometimes it means leaving some ideas behind. It does not necessarily mean changing completely your way of thinking and going the opposite direction. I’ll let Taylor explain it better:

I’ve apparently been the victim of growing up, which apparently happens to all of us at one point or another. It’s been going on for quite some time now, without me knowing it. I’ve found that growing up can mean a lot of things. For me, it doesn’t mean I should become somebody completely new and stop loving the things I used to love. It means I’ve just added more things to my list.

– Taylor Swift

That being said, you have to expect her to try new things. Now she is trying out straightening her hair for certain periods. You probably have noticed she uses a lot more variety of shoes nowadays than the usual cowboy boots. Not all her dresses are sparkly or sundresses. And yes, she has moved on from past relationships (sorry) and could even be starting a new one. I’m not saying her rumored relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal is real or fake. I’m saying she has the right to be happy, grow up, experiment and make mistakes. She’s not outgrowing her fans. She will still be there for you.

There’s a common trait that I see in most articles out there that either praise or try to put down Taylor. It is the habit of comparing the Outspoken One to another performer out there. Positive reviews for Taylor tend to put down other teen idols that are making the transition into adulthood. Negative critiques against Taylor attack her performances or her vocal range by comparing her to either country stars with powerhouse voices that are considered rivals or pop stars with a more extravagant and colorful style. I don’t like when people do this. I understand why, but I don’t think you need to put anybody down to highlight someone else nor you need to create antagonism between fanbases or create false rivalries.

Taylor herself has had words of praise or received them from the examples she’s often judged against and more than a few are actually friends of hers. Furthermore, a lot of those fanbases intersect each other (meaning that a lot of people are fans of both). Yes, I understand once we go into award shows we’re all pulling for our favorite to win. It’s the nature of showbiz.

I know I got a bit sidetracked from the original topic, but there’s a few things that I’ve wanted to address for a while so bear with me here 🙂

While I’ve known fans that are concerned about Taylor outgrowing her roots, harsh critics (I know people just say “haters” but it’s very hard to take that term seriously) actually believe Taylor is… take a deep breath fans… immature. For a true Swiftie fan, this is the most impossible thing in the planet. Taylor has two very different character traits: she is the ultimate goof and the business-savvy entrepreneur. Often enough you will see older, well establish artist will see T-Swizzle’s career choices and take notes. Other times she will be playing the ultimate prank or clowning around backstage in a candid video.

Ever since Fearless, we’ve heard critics expecting more “grown-up” material out of Taylor. To them I say, I submit to you Speak Now.

• “Her idea of love is stuck in high school.” Have you noticed Mine‘s lyrics address a more mature romance, one that must overcome “her parent’s mistakes?” Notice how she is imagining a different background for the main character in the song than her own. She’s writing outside her experience here. In Back To December, she’s apologizing to a former love. In Haunted, she’s dealing with the ghosts from a past relationship. And I can’t help but mention Last Kiss which is when she finally closes the chapter of Forever And Always with no remorse and only good memories. I consider that growth and wisdom beyond her years.
• “All her songs sound the same.” There are blatantly diverse songs in this album. Haunted doesn’t sound anything like she’s done before. Better Than Revenge seems influenced by Paramore. Also compare the style of a pop song lke Story of Us to a country song like Mean or a rock anthem like Long Live.
• “She always writes about falling in love.” Better Than Revenge is a declaration of war against a rival. Innocent is about forgiving someone with more experience but who let her down.Mean is about someone who criticizes her trying to put her down. Long Live is about her friends, her band, her crowd, her team. Never Grow Up is about growing up and even parenthood.
• “There are no songs about…” Domestic violence? Substance abuse? Suicide? No, there are not and frankly, they are not missed. She doesn’t need to write of every single topic under the sun anyways.

I was going to add that none of the songs in Speak Now have the words fairytale, prince or princess in them, but one might argue there’s a song called Enchanted and the lyrics to Long Live do contain references to “kings and queens” as well as “fighting dragons” so I guess one might just say Taylor is still obsessed with fairytales. That’s something that I accept she does, and for which I’m glad.

To wrap up, I’m going give you one of my favorite Outspoken and Fearless quotes:

I think it’s important that you know that I will never change. But I’ll never stay the same either. Must be a Sagittarius thing.

– Taylor Swift

The Outspoken One is 21 years old this Monday, December 13. From all of us who make the Swift Agency, who are about… one person, we want to wish her a most personal and authentic birthday. What? Oh ok. And the guys in the Ninja Department say hi. Sheesh.

Coming up in the Calendar!

• December 10: The concert dates of August 27 and 28 in Los Angeles, CA at the Staples Center are on sale to the general public on Ticketmaster at 10:00am.
• December 12: The Hub will rerun their Taylor Swift special The Journey To Fearless.
• December 13: Do I really need to tell you what happens on this date???

Coming up in January, 2011!

• January 5: The People Choice Awards are broadcast on CBS at 9/8c. Voting is closed now. Taylor Swift is up for Female Artist of the Year and Country Artist of the Year.

(Sources: Taylor Swift, The Swift Agency)