An open apology to Taylor Swift

Dear Taylor Swift,

You were one of my biggest role models in my younger years. When I was getting bullied in the fourth grade, I would grip my iPod in my hand on the bus and turn up “Cold as You” and “The Outside” as loud as I could. You got me through so many hard times and hurtful words, and I honestly do not know what I would have done without you.

But as I grew up, you did the same. All around me were tabloids and magazine covers that boasted headlines like, “Who is Taylor Swift’s New Mystery Man” or “Is Taylor Swift a Serial Dater,” and I began to form a new opinion of you based on what I read in those stories.

I would listen to your albums in private, but any time someone asked me what I thought of you, I would say something about how you were so overrated and boy crazy. I would post pictures on Instagram saying that I hated being named Taylor because everyone assumed that I was boy crazy just like my media counterpart. I even made a joke about how you went through boys faster than Hogwarts went through Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers (which doesn’t even make sense because they went through one teacher a year, and each teacher had his own personality and defining characteristics, which entirely defeated the point I was attempting to make.) But in reality, you were just a teenage girl trying to live her life, and I was too blinded by the media lies to see that.

You were thrust into the spotlight with the paparazzi stalking your every move on the daily. You couldn’t talk to a boy — let alone even think about going on a date — without the press asking whether or not he was your next boy toy. I can’t imagine growing up and having every mistake that I ever made plastered across magazines sitting in grocery store checkout aisles around the country.

And now you are 25 and living a prosperous life. You survived your teenage years and are now living a life that is picture-perfect. You have five platinum albums, 16 American Music Awards, seven Grammy Awards, and so many other titles and accolades under your belt. You vacation in tropical places with your friends and throw parties that everyone wishes that they had an invitation to. You give back to your fans and make the world a brighter place because of your presence in it. Yet the media still rides on your back, questioning the fact that you wear a full face of makeup when you go out for a run and pondering if your wardrobe is “appropriate.”

I will not stand back this time and watch the tabloids swing at you with their claws extended. This time I will stand up for you, no matter what it takes.

I never stopped loving you, T-Swift. Your songs have been the anthem of my life, and I am so sorry that I was too ashamed to share that with the world. You gave me so much through your music, and now it is time for me to give back to you.

Keep doing you, because you are perfect.

Love,

Taylor 2

Taylor lives in a cornfield in the middle of Indiana. Her hobbies include being an actual cat disguised as a human who likes to write, lounging in front of windows because it is warm there, and asking people to touch her hair. When she isn’t pretending to be cool on the Internet, you can find her watching Netflix or being problematic and asking people if she can touch their animals after she has already started petting them.

(Image via here.)