As I Get Older, I Have Embraced Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift and Lover - Turns Out, I Love It.

I grew up a music snob. It was perfectly ok amongst my family and friends to love both classical and industrial gothic music. These were acknowledged as being authentic expressions of truly extraordinary talents. My mum and dad had very strong opinions on music - and so I enjoyed many of my formative years listening to classical, country, blues, Elvis, Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers (dad) as well as Dean, Sammy, Frank, Shirley Bassey, Diana Ross and Demis Roussos (mum). Music soundtracks were on regular rotation on our record player - My Fair Lady, Grease, Dirty Harry all equally popular. It was a golden age of rock n roll, disco, Mowtown and crooners. That was living!

As we became teenagers, forming our own tastes, my sister and I experimented with Simon & Garfunkel and other folksy bands. It didn't really stick. I'm ashamed to say that there are large swathes of brilliant music (e.g. Beatles, Dylan, Beach Boys) that I have never got into. And yet listening to Billy Idol in the car with my dad on the way to school was a hit for all of us. It was then that I also started listening to more alternative bands like The Smiths, The The, Hazel O'Conner and Depeche Mode. And so my (lipstick) goth years began, mostly thanks to my BFF Philly and her uncanny ability to discover cool music.

I Have Seen Nick Cave 43 Times Live. Still Obsessed After All These Years. 

From late high school onward I also obsessively listened to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Joy Division then New Order, Sisters of Mercy and the 4AD bands like Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, Dead Can Dance, Clan of Xymox, Throwing Muses and The Pixies. When we went clubbing, we went to the various incarnations of alternative club, The Playground, where music was diverse by today's standards and you could just as likely hear Run DMC as Salt n Peppa, REM or The Cure. In fact Spirit in the Sky was the one hit wonder that was guaranteed to pull every clubber onto the dance floor for a bit of light relief (and to stick it to the religious zealots at the door spitting 'devil worshipper' at you as you entered.)

Heaven is a Place On Earth. It Was Then. It Is Now. Thank You Belinda Carlisle.

Through all of this I had some secret pleasures that weren't cool, that would have definitely raised an eyebrow from the Playground set - if not get me excommunicated entirely. And being young and stupid, I kept this enjoyment to a minimum, to be shared only with my closest pals. I loved Bonnie Tyler and almost all of the most uncool power ballads of the 80s. I loved the Spice Girls and Belinda Carlisle. I mean to be fair, awesome women of disco and pop were my jam. And while it was fine to like them ironically, or as a feminist statement, it wasn't what I got to go out and dance to.

I Will Never Not LOVE Bonnie Tyler, Total Eclipse of the Heart. Non-Ironically. With Interpretive Dance.

This weird unacknowledged shame can follow you around if you let it. Liking cool music is so easily and often part of a person's identity, something that feels valuable and important. Something that binds you to others. I mean I remember once trying internet dating (a long time ago) and connecting with this guy, bantering, setting up a IRL date, and happening to mention that I wasn't a fan of the Beatles. Hahaha. He literally cancelled our date on that basis. Idiot.

I have seen grown ups in their 40s and 50s judging others for the music they listen to. And I look at who I was and who I have become and I kind of understand it, before I shake my head and wonder why on earth haters gotta hate. Which brings me to Taylor Swift. I have been listening to the album Lover for the past week or so. And I love it. I think it is excellent. I shared this with some dear pals yesterday and they me supported enthusiastically. What a great guilty pleasure in this mad, bad, crazy world. But actually I don't feel at all guilty about it. I just love it. It makes me happy. And that's more than enough.

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That's the end of that story, but for those of you who are interested, I really like Lover because of the following:

It's got extremely clever political protest songs on it (Miss Americana, The Man, YNTCD) and it has some great bops, my favourite being Paper Rings (rockabilly-jangle-punk is something you may not know you love, but how can you not?) This is an album written and produced by a prodigiously talented young woman, who has extraordinary influence and appears to be using it in a positive way. And it is pretty and fun and loving and sweet. Who doesn't need a bit of that in their life?

Also, support all women and encourage them to pull the next one up with them. Then we all win.