Maureen Explains It All

Every generation has a defining musician. Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Madonna. Even though this generation isn’t quite to the point of comeback tours and “best of” albums, my defining artist will always be the lovely, quirky Taylor Swift.

She just gets what a girl goes through. The love, the heartache, the need for a song to cry to and to sing at the top of her lungs. She knows what we need even before we ask for it.

As the brilliant creator/writer/star of the HBO show “Girls” Lena Dunham tweeted, “Judging by how much she’s helped me thus far, Taylor Swift is going to write the song that finally gets me comfortable with death.”

She gets me comfortable with the idea of life, so I’m guessing she’ll get me there with death.

Judging by how much she’s done for me thus far, Taylor will always be one of my idols. Let me count the ways.

1. She can take criticism and turn it into a song.

After Kayne West interrupted her at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, after the critics said she can’t sing, she looks like a Siamese cat or is too tall, she let it roll off her back and made one of my favorite songs. “Someday I’ll be livin’ in a big old city, and all you’re ever gonna be is mean.”

When I needed it most, this song helped me realize that sometimes mean people are always going to be mean, it’s up to me to move on and not listen.

2. She can write a great break-up song.

Whether the relationships written about were hers or not, the girl knows what can break a heart and how to heal it. “We are never ever ever getting back together.” “Now it’s too late for you and your white horse to come around.” “He’s the reason for the teardrops on my guitar.”

Scorn, revenge, rage, tears, melancholy. It’s all there. And no matter the break-up, she’s got a song for every emotion.

3. She can write a dynamite love song.

I hardly believe Taylor has been in love as many times as she’s written a good love song, but she can capture that fleeting feeling of a heart skipping because of falling in love. “You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess/It’s a love story, baby just say yes.” “Drop everything now/Meet me in the pouring rain/Kiss me on the sidewalk/Take away the pain/Cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile.” “People throw rocks at things that shine/And life makes love look hard/The stakes are high, the water’s rough/But this love is ours.’”

I wish my love life was as glamorous as a T Swift song, but having actually been caught in a rainstorm, there is nothing romantic about it. Though I do hope someday I can run through a field into the arms of a prince to the song of a slammin’ screen door.

4. She’s determined to be her own person.

When her first major record deal wanted her to record songs written by other artists, she refused to change who she was for a small slice of success. Instead she signed with a smaller record label and released an album written entirely on her own. She never apologizes for being who she is.

5. She is perfectly imperfect.

She has her haters. She makes silly mistakes, like dating a man nine years older than her or a boy still in high school, even if he is Jake Gyllenhaal or a Kennedy. She is young and taking on the world of success at an increasing rate. She is growing up and changing her image.

But that’s what makes her a standout role model. She isn’t afraid to make mistakes. She is growing up with us. She knows what it is like to be 15 walking into high school for the first time. She knows what it is like to fear change. She knows what it is like to fight. She knows what it is like to feel the frustrations of life.

So when I’m 45 and my years will say more about me than my future, I will still be at her show singing every word of every song because she’s Taylor Swift and that’s just what Taylor fans will always do.

 – Maureen Quinlan can be reached at [email protected]