What Swifties and indie rock fans have in common (more than you would think)

 




I get that people have different interests, passions and desires. One of the lessons I have been trying to learn in recent times, as I strive to grow, is addressing the fact I have a hard time understanding when folks don’t connect to something in the same way I do. If it means so much to me, then why doesn’t it impact on you? Surely it makes you feel … something? 

I’m still struggling to learn this lesson. Taylor Swift has helped bring me a degree of insight into my blind spot. So many people are passionate about her work and so, being curious and always wanting to learn, I asked my FB fam about which of her songs I should listen to, and there were a bunch of responses.

 

I dived in. What did I learn? Her music is beautifully written and immaculately produced, but I didn’t connect with it. I’m not the target audience anyway, so that’s OK. But what it did make me appreciate is the fact people connect deeply with her work. It speaks to them and becomes part of their identity, part of who they are. And that is fucken awesome. Who you feel passionate about is less important than the fact you feel passionate about something.

 

Because it’s passion that fosters human connection. Passion creates empathy and an understanding of the ‘other.’ I really dig the fact Swifties are so passionate about her art and work because, as I have written elsewhere on this blog, there’s nothing more important in life than music and art, poetry and literature and, most importantly, a desire for human connection.

 

What a Swiftie feels when they hear one of her songs is exactly what I feel when I listen to a song like Slowdive’s When the Sun Hits. I’m transported, I am lifted, and I get just that little bit closer to transcendence.




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