Day 1: The Experiment Begins

So there's this problem that I have with popular culture. I guess I should be more specific, the problem I have isn't with the pop culture itself, but with the consumption of said pop culture. The more popular something becomes, the more difficult it is to earnestly enjoy it. To me, there's no better example of this than music. Just think about it, every time a song like  Despacito or All Star comes on it just kinda feels weird. Of course a huge part of this is the repetition. It's like how if you say any word a thousand times it starts to sound meaningless, except the word is 3 minutes 34 seconds long, includes its titular word 56 times, and was played non-stop on the radio in 2010 for what was, by my estimate, about 3 eternities.

I've seen this video 1000 times and I only just realized Drake is in it

But we're not here to talk about you, Justin. As you, intelligent reader, may have already deduced this blog is about Taylor Swift. But we're not quite there yet! First I want to talk more about repetition.  A very strange thing happens to the human mind when it hears the same song repeatedly. To show what I mean try to answer this question. Do you like the song Gangnam Style by Psy? When I first thought about this question, I honestly couldn't come up with an answer. I enjoy the song when it's playing but afterwards I just feel kinda sick and dirty. It's like these songs are our booty calls that we tell ourselves we don't want but when we get that itch in our brains we just can't resist giving in.

I honestly believe that music becomes popular not just through how catchy it is, and songs like Friday and Chocolate Rain are worth much more than they're given credit for. So I wondered, what would happen if someone took repitition all the way to the extreme? If someone were to listen to the same set of music for an extended period of time would that actually give them a deeper appreciation for it, or would it only widen the dissonance?

Here's where we can finally get to Taylor. I don't know if there's a successful artist alive today affected by this on the same scale as her. Aside from die-hard Swifties or whatever the hell they're called, I don't think anyone actually admits to liking her music. As best, you'll get an "I used to like it" or "her old stuff was better". So here's my question. Is it possible to be a fan of Taylor Swift without being a Taylor Swift fan? I am a 21 year old man; I doubt that I will self identify as a Swiffer anytime soon, but maybe, just maybe, I can take something I only like ironically and find some real value in it.

Image unrelated

And who better a subject than Taylor Swift? I enjoy her music enough to make a fucking blog about it, and there's a ton to work with, most of which I've never even listened to. So for the next 100 days I will listen to nothing but songs by Taylor Swift. To make it a little more formal, I've listed out the rules I will be following below.

• Any song that has audio of Taylor Swift's voice is allowed
• All tracks, including bonus tracks, on her official albums is fair game
• During this period I cannot listen to other audio media like audiobooks or podcasts
• I can still watch videos like YouTube, TV, and Netflix, as well as playing video games with non-Taylor Swift music
• Not a rule but the last bullet point made me wish there was a video game with only TS song in it
• Music/Podcasts/etc someone else is playing  out loud don't count.

I have no clue how this is going to turn out. I may go insane and have to cut the whole thing short 16 days in, or maybe in two months I will be a full on Swifter going to concerts and shit. All that I know is that this is seriously going to fuck with my head, and honestly I can't wait.

As I am writing this it is 12:30 am on Friday October 26th, 2018, which means my last day will be February 2nd, 2019. 

That is a long ass time.

See you tomorrow,

-C