Today I'll be discussing one of the greatest songs Taylor Swift has ever created. Ronan was released as a charity one-shot song to support cancer research. But we're a little ahead of ourselves, let's get some backstory.
Ronan Thompson died of neuroblastoma just before his fourth birthday in May of 2011. It's such a tragedy when a child dies that most people's reactions, including my own, is to distance themselves from it, at least mentally. How do you even talk about something so tragic in an authentic way? Well if there's anyone I would trust to talk firsthand about what it's like, it would be the child's mother.
After his diagnosis, Ronan's mother Maya started a blog, which she continued even after he died. Taylor Swift was a reader of this blog, and at some point in 2011 Taylor invited Maya to one of her concert and revealed the song she had been working on, Ronan.
This song is absolutely heartbreaking. The details about Ronan's life and Maya's grief seem so real, and it's because they are. Maya is credited as a co-writer of the song, and most of the song is based directly off details that can be found in her blog about her late son. This makes it so real that it hurts to listen to in the most visceral way. It's like looking straight at the sun, except it breaks your heart instead of your retina.
The amount of emotional intimacy required to make this song possible just makes my head spin. The amount of emotion between mother and child in this situation is completely unfathomable to me, but what is even more is documenting the whole experience in a way public to the world. This blog is dumb; I don't think I could do anything near that intense in a blog. I know it sounds corny, but you really do have to be incredibly brave to do that.
Why did Taylor write this song? My opinion is that the story of Ronan genuinely touched her, and she felt like there was a story to tell and good to do. Arguing that this is a cash grab or a publicity stunt wouldn't just be cynical but also just plain inaccurate. Not only do the proceeds for the song go to neuroblastoma research, but she's only preformed the song twice live, first for a cancer research fundraising telethon and another during a single show of the 1989 tour, which Maya attended.
Telling someone else's story, especially one like this, requires a lot of finesse so as to treat it with the merited respect. In my opinion, the song achieved this perfectly, and Taylor took all the right steps to make sure it was received as intended.
I know this is somewhat of a cop-out but I think that even more than any of Taylor's other songs, this one speak for itself. I'm usually quite the stonehearted monster, but this song even made me shed a tear or two. If you don't have the same reaction, I'm not going to think any less of you. Actually, I take that back, You better cry! Just let it out, this song is way too sad not to cry for! I promise, I won't tell anyone.
That's all for today, tune in tomorrow for something a little less sad (hopefully).
See you tomorrow,
-C
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Monday, December 3, 2018
Day 39: Your Friendly Neighborhood Taylor Swift
As with many great stories, this one begins with a meme from 2002. To get to the point, a GIF of Spider-Man doing a section of a dance from a K-pop music video. Very standard internet stuff, I know. What broke the mold was when someone noticed how the arachnid hero would seem to dance to the beat no matter what song was playing. There are some pretty in-depth analyses of why this is, but it really is true. So naturally, I often have the GIF playing in the background while I listen to Taylor Swift and see what matches up well.
Look at him go
Spidey dances well to almost every Taylor Swift song, but some are a better fit than others. As far as albums go, there's no question. The beat-heavy pop style of 1989 makes it fit Spidey's dance so well. Some songs from other albums fit just as well, so let's go over some of the top contenders overall.
How You Get the Girl:
One of the best for sure. At worst the sections map decently, but when it really syncs up it just seems incredible that these weren't made in tangent with each other. The magic is real. Spider-Man's dancing seems elegant and fluid, and you can really tell how much he misses his ex-boyfriend.
Sparks Fly:
Even better than the previous song, I swear it's impossible for Spidey to ever be out of sync for this song. The timing is just always perfect and you can just feel how in love Spider-Man is with this new relationship.
You Belong With Me:
A classic. It's true, no one gets your humor the way that Spidey does. You know I actually bet that this song would be a great fit with Peter Parker's life. I would read that.
I Wish You Would:
A very 1989 song, and shows why that album fits the GIF so well. If he syncs up perfectly with the chorus then you're really in for a treat.
These are my favorites, but let me know if you find a song that works even better than any of these. I'd love to expand my meme collection.
See you tomorrow
-C
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Day 38: Xmas
We are officially in the midst of December, which means I can finally talk about Taylor Swift's 2007 Christmas album. I'm not going to dive too deep today since I'll be reviewing each song in greater depth throughout the rest of the month. Today I just want to talk about the album as a whole.
This album's release was between Taylor Swift and Fearless, and that's exactly how it sounds. Everything about her voice is, in general, very similar to how it appears in it's predecessor. The albums track listing is featured below.
3. Santa Baby
4. Silent Night
Four of these songs are well known Christmas songs, while two of them, Christmases When You Were Mine and Christmas Must Be Something More are original tracks. It's a shame the album is so short; mostly this album leaves me unsatisfied and wanting more Taylor Swift Christmas music.
The other major aspect of this album that I can't help noticing is how many risks it takes. This is especially odd, considering how releasing a Christmas album is usually considered to be a relatively safe, low effort cash grab. But Taylor decided to have a third of album be completely original songs, with her rendition of Silent Night being highly unorthodox as well. This means that half of the album will be novel to listeners, a staggeringly high percentage for an album of this nature. Like I said, I'll be going into the details of each song at later dates, but for now I'd recommend listening to this album a couple times to get into that holiday spirit.
See you tomorrow,
-C
Saturday, December 1, 2018
Day 37: Answer Time!
Yesterday I asked the audience to guess which song I liked best out of a selection of just two. Honestly, I thought this was a pretty easy one. But somehow, no one managed to get the correct answer! That's fine with me though, more salami for me. So which is better between You Are In Love and Enchanted?
Well first I want to say that I don't think either of these songs are bad. They each have their strengths but since they are topically very similar songs it's not hard to at least try and see which one does it better. That's not to say they are completely identical thought. In Enchanted, Taylor has basically just met her love interest, whereas in You Are In Love they are already in a relationship, albeit a relatively young one. The goal of each song is simple, to communicate what a young love feels like and each succeeds in it's own right. That said, Enchanted does a much better job in my opinion.
No small part of this difference comes with the simple introduction of a little subtly. Let's just take a look at each song's line that best sums it up.
"I was enchanted to meet you"
"You are in love"
Even a small layer of abstraction can go a really long ways. This might just be me, but saying explicitly that you're in love is just so unconvincing to me. A much better way of getting this point across would be to say something equivalent but unique enough to make the audience think about it a little. Something that isn't too out there so as not to alienate the audience, which is exactly what the word "enchanted" achieves.
Weird thing is that most of the rest of You Are In Love is perfectly good. Normally one bad line isn't anywhere close to being enough to sour my opinion of it, but it's not just in the chorus, it's the whole name of the song. That overshadows many of the other much better lines.
"You understand now why they lost their minds and fought the warsAnd why I've spent my whole life try to put it into words"(You Are In Love)
I would go as far as saying that this line isn't just good, it's very good. It does what the chorus should've, and described more than just the fact of the love. It goes further and actually gives you an impression of what it felt like.
Before I go, I want to point out just how similar these songs are. It's the reason I decided to talk about them in the first place was that I noticed so many things in common, even down to the details.
"You can hear it in the silence, silence, you
You can feel it on the way home, way home"(You Are In Love)
"This night is sparkling, don't you let it go
I'm wonder struck, blushing all the way home"(Enchanted)
The choice in details here, like the travel home is in no way a complete coincidence. I'm not saying Taylor planned this because there's no way that's true. Rather I think she chose these details to focus on in multiple songs because they are an easy way to make the relationship feel more real in a way that everyone can understand. Notice that she says "on the way home" instead of "in the car" "on the train" or "in the taxi" to keep it as vague as possible so that people can apply their own experiences to it. For some reason I always picture a taxi cab even though I never take them. I have been known to drive them occasionally though.
That's all for today's post, make sure to let me know in the comments why I'm wrong
See you tomorrow
-C
Well first I want to say that I don't think either of these songs are bad. They each have their strengths but since they are topically very similar songs it's not hard to at least try and see which one does it better. That's not to say they are completely identical thought. In Enchanted, Taylor has basically just met her love interest, whereas in You Are In Love they are already in a relationship, albeit a relatively young one. The goal of each song is simple, to communicate what a young love feels like and each succeeds in it's own right. That said, Enchanted does a much better job in my opinion.
No small part of this difference comes with the simple introduction of a little subtly. Let's just take a look at each song's line that best sums it up.
"I was enchanted to meet you"
"You are in love"
Even a small layer of abstraction can go a really long ways. This might just be me, but saying explicitly that you're in love is just so unconvincing to me. A much better way of getting this point across would be to say something equivalent but unique enough to make the audience think about it a little. Something that isn't too out there so as not to alienate the audience, which is exactly what the word "enchanted" achieves.
Weird thing is that most of the rest of You Are In Love is perfectly good. Normally one bad line isn't anywhere close to being enough to sour my opinion of it, but it's not just in the chorus, it's the whole name of the song. That overshadows many of the other much better lines.
"You understand now why they lost their minds and fought the warsAnd why I've spent my whole life try to put it into words"(You Are In Love)
I would go as far as saying that this line isn't just good, it's very good. It does what the chorus should've, and described more than just the fact of the love. It goes further and actually gives you an impression of what it felt like.
Before I go, I want to point out just how similar these songs are. It's the reason I decided to talk about them in the first place was that I noticed so many things in common, even down to the details.
"You can hear it in the silence, silence, you
You can feel it on the way home, way home"(You Are In Love)
"This night is sparkling, don't you let it go
I'm wonder struck, blushing all the way home"(Enchanted)
The choice in details here, like the travel home is in no way a complete coincidence. I'm not saying Taylor planned this because there's no way that's true. Rather I think she chose these details to focus on in multiple songs because they are an easy way to make the relationship feel more real in a way that everyone can understand. Notice that she says "on the way home" instead of "in the car" "on the train" or "in the taxi" to keep it as vague as possible so that people can apply their own experiences to it. For some reason I always picture a taxi cab even though I never take them. I have been known to drive them occasionally though.
That's all for today's post, make sure to let me know in the comments why I'm wrong
See you tomorrow
-C
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