Day 10: Never Grow Up

If there's one thing Taylor Swift is known for, it's her transition from country music to pop. This transition didn't fully kick into gear until Red, but songs started to change as early as Speak Now. Some of the songs in this period pulled off a brilliant fusion between country and pop, while others totally botched it and read as a the awkward teenage phase of Taylor's career. Today's song falls into neither of these categories (but also kinda both), which is one of the reasons I like it so much. Attentive readers may already have guessed (or read the title), today we're talking about the 8th song on Speak Now, Never Grow Up.

This song seriously toes the line between being legitimately sincere and pandering, which is why I suspect that people may have such different reactions to it. For me, it comes out on the good side but I could easily see it being different for others.

I like this song because it describes a feeling everyone has eventually, especially when you realize that you're so much older than you thought. For Taylor in the song, this was brought on by helping to take care of a little tiny baby. She reflects on her situation, and urges said toddler to "never grow up". This is, or course, absolutely ridiculous. Everyone knows that there's only one way to make sure kids don't grow up, and I don't think it's what Taylor was suggesting.

Taylor isn't stupid though; she knows everyone has to grow up eventually (except those younglings). It's a hopeless plea but still, we all do it. The purity of children can seem pretty overwhelming, especially when you first move out on your own.

"I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone"

Okay, wow, that got existential. But that is exactly where the previous train of thought leads, there's really no getting away from it. So for someone with an audience with a lot of young girls, I guess I can see how trying to get the message out ahead of time can seem pretty important.

Like I mentioned before, I really like how this song seems almost genre-less. It has hints of country and definitely isn't pop. Really the most accurate way to describe it would be as a lullaby, although that doesn't seem totally right either. It's just a guitar with some vocals. In my opinion, this is a great example of how sometimes less can be way more.

Okay cool, that's all for today. Have a good one.

See you tomorrow,
-C