The empowering reason why Taylor Swift’s views on love have changed

Since Taylor Swift’s first album debuted in 2006, the singer/song-writer/majestic cat lady has given her fans innumerable glimpses into her personal life through her music. It’s been nine years since that first record dropped, and in that time Tay has maneuvered her way through high profile break-ups, makeovers, and a changing music industry, making her mark as she’s grown into one of the most influential people in the world.

Oh, and because she is a human person, she’s also grown up in some totally normal ways, too.

For instance, Taylor’s views on love have developed big time, and they are inspiring her to change how she lives. In her recent cover interview with Vanity Fair, Taylor talked about how her love for her friends, for herself, and for her life drives pretty much everything she does. Instead of molding herself to fit into someone else’s world, she mindfully decided to take ownership of herself as an individual.

Since adopting this philosophy, Taylor has strengthened her relationships with her lady-friends, opened her homes to fans (literally), and, almost like a bonus, found a dude who doesn’t want to change her one bit. Taylor has lived in the public spotlight for almost a decade.

In the past, T-Swift was mocked about her love life and criticized for writing about her past relationships — many tried to connect every lyric in every song to a “failed” romance. Swift fired back, pointing out many male musicians have written about their exes —and they seem to get away with it unscathed. “They’re all writing songs about their exes, their current girlfriends, their love life, and no one raises the red flag there,” Swift said.

Plus —even if those songs are about a Jonas Brother – no big deal. It’s not a sin to write about true-life experiences. In fact, it’s healthy.

Taylor could have easily cracked under that kind of pressure and scrutiny, but it’s awesome to hear that instead she chose to build herself up and concentrate on finding happiness in her life before she found it with a cute Scottish DJ.

Taylor also stressed the importance of surrounding herself with amazing, strong women like Gigi Hadid, Cara Delevingne, Lena Dunham, Karlie Kloss, and the rest of her gal crew, pointing out that, “It’s so hard for women to be understood and portrayed the right way in the media.” She continued, “Now more than ever we need to be good and kind to each other and not judge each other.”

It’s evident that Taylor really cares about the people in her life. She revealed that even her decision to stand up to Apple Music back in June was influenced by her musician friends’ dismay about being properly paid for their hard work. “The contracts had just gone out to my friends, and one of them sent me a screenshot of one of them,” Swift said. “I read the term ‘zero percent compensation to rights holders.’” Taylor stood up for herself and her friends, and, to her surprise, won. “Apple treated me like I was a voice of a creative community that they actually cared about.”

Taylor’s Vanity Fair interview highlighted a lot of great ways to take control of the goodness in your world. Love yourself, love your friends, love your life. Then, if it’s what you choose or want or desire, find someone who loves you for you. Sounds like a pretty good plan to me.

(Image via Vevo)

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