Growing up Swift

By Taylor McCance

For as long as I’ve been alive Taylor Swift has been a part of my life. I was born in September 2006 two years after Taylor Swift had started her career. My sister is a huge country fan and knew of her before her official debut with her first country album, and with some persuasion on her part, my name was Taylor. 

I grew up on her music, the songs of Taylor Swift (album), Fearless, Speak Now, and Red being the soundtracks to my early childhood. 

At the time I only really knew of her singles, the popular music. Having to listen to her mostly through the radio. When I got a tablet I would watch her music videos over and over again. 

When I turned 11, for my birthday, my grandma gave me a handheld CD player you could plug your headphones in to listen to the music. That gift followed a CD of 1989 from my mom. For my 11th birthday I had asked to visit my sister, who at the time lived 6 hours away. Needless to say that player got its money's worth of use. It was the first time I really listened to her side tracks. Somehow, I fell even more in love with Taylor’s music. 

We weren’t Out Of The Woods yet though. 

Reputation was an album released in 2017 after a two year hiatus from releasing music from Taylor because of the media. Around 2016 the media had painted her a villain, many calling her kindness fake, and thousands calling her a snake. 

Taylor took this character people made of her and came back stronger than a 90’s trend with Reputation. The first single Look What You Made Me Do and its music video dropped in mid 2017. Filled with imagery of snakes and playing the self absorbed, almost evil, character she was painted as. This wasn’t the first time Taylor had done this, having played the “psychotic girlfriend” character she was painted as in her music video for Blank Space back in 2014.

Why is Reputation so important to me? It’s important because it came to me at a time in my life where I was pretty severely bullied, not something I could just shake it off (okay that one wasn’t great) It had made me feel better about myself and the situation, but Reputation sparked something much bigger within me. Reputation to this day still means a lot to me having changed my aesthetics and all around taste in music.

The Reputation Stadium Tour show at Levi Stadium was my first concert experience ever. To say I was excited was an understatement. Taylor set the bar high, the performance was absolutely amazing. You can say many things about Taylor, but you can’t say she doesn’t know how to put on a hell of a show. I was ecstatic to see Taylor in person after looking up to her my entire life. 

I’m so thankful to my sister that I was able to go.

4 new albums, 4 re-recorded albums, and 6 years later I’m a bigger fan than I’ve ever been, and Taylor is more popular than ever. As I’m writing this Taylor has just finished her last 2023 show of The Eras Tour. In July when Taylor was in town, like many others, me and my sister went to Levi’s to listen to her perform from outside of the stadium. 

We made a few friends along the way, and as Taylor was getting ready to start performing my sister got a text from one of the girls we had met saying that she could see inside the stadium from where she was sitting from the top of a parking garage. So me, my sister, and a few of our other new friends made our ways over and to the top floor as Taylor sang the bridge to Cruel Summer.

It was an incredible show, and it was incredible how many thousands of people came together in one place, all because we all connected with this one artist's music.

Nowadays I listen to Taylor’s music through a new lens. I’m not 9 anymore, I’m going to be 18 next year. I’ve lived through heartbreak, excitement, sadness, bullying, awful friends, and plenty of good and bad experiences. I’ve grown up a lot, and Taylor’s music has been with me all throughout no matter what was going on.

And I know for a fact that I’m not the only one. 

I feel like the best way for me to end this story is with some of her lyrics, some of my favorites. From track 5 of her album Midnights. 

'Cause there were pages turned with the bridges burned

Everything you lose is a step you take

So make the friendship bracelets

Take the moment and taste it

You've got no reason to be afraid

You're on your own, kid

Yeah, you can face this

You're on your own, kid

You always have been

For the Warrior Times, this is Taylor McCance