Omigosh, What Is Happening To Me?

I think I might be a Taylor Swift fan. Any one who actually reads my tweets will gasp at this revelation. My feelings for Swift's music have been ambivalent. She doesn't totally suck. She has a pleasant voice that is reminiscent of Connie Stevens - sugary sweet with a pinch of sass. But the lyrical content of her songs is so juvenile. Listening to her music is like listening to a Chuck Berry track: puppy dog love set against the backdrop of a high school campus, complete with letterman sweaters, pom poms, and secondhand automobiles.

I listened to her latest album, Speak Now, and was unimpressed. I thought, this is the album topping the billboard charts? Really? The songs lacked a level a sophistication that I would expect from an artist of her caliber. Take the title song, "Speak Now." Swift barges in on her would be lover's wedding, demanding that he stop the show and marry her instead. The most poetic lyric in this piece is, "I sneak in and see her friends /And her snotty little family/All dressed in pastel /And she is yelling at a bridesmaid /Somewhere back inside a room/Wearing a gown shaped like a pastry." That's it. This is dominating the Billboard charts.

I decided to listen Swift's previous album, Fearless, hoping that I would find something substantial to this pop icon. As I listened, something funny happened - I started singing along. "She wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts/ She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers!" I couldn't believe it. I, Ebony Haywood, was rocking out to Taylor Swift, in my car, on my way to work, and enjoying every minute of it. "It's a love story, baby just say yes!" I was infected with the teen pop bug. Fearless is packed with catchy tunes that cling to you, and beg for your attention. The lyrics are cheesy, but the melodies are so well crafted, and the background vocals are so slick, that you forget how lame the words are. Then I understood. This is Taylor Swift.