#You're more likely to elicit change AND you might realize in the process that the author actually agrees with you

[loneliii-aura]

Hm, how do I put this. I agree with most of the stated opinions of "pro-shippers." However, just because I don't think people deserve to be mobbed online or persecuted by the government for their art does not mean I think those same pieces are undeserving of criticism or expressed disgust.

[oh-my-damn]

"There's something about the complete and total uncertainty about life that causes endless anxiety, but there's another part that causes sort of a release of the pressures that you used to feel. Because if we're going to have to recalibrate everything, we should start with what we love the most first." - Taylor Swift, folklore: the long pond studio sessions

I never realized until this exact moment why Folklore was my favorite album of hers.

I've been wondering about that. I've wondered for some time, now.

I figured maybe it was because I am so ridiculously sentimental, nostalgic, and just straight up emotional a lot of the time.

But then the voice in my head would be like, "Okay, but you're not those things all the time. That's not what you're known as, by the people who know you. You're known as the bubbly, energetic person who secretly struggles with depression from time to time."

So I went back and I was like, "Okay, but then why is this the album that resonates the most? I love Midnights, Lover, Evermore and Reputation too. I adore 1989. But why is Folklore just the album for me?"

I could never answer that question. Or, I couldn't give a satisfying answer, at least.

But I know now.

Because Folklore represents that passion you found and clung on to when the world went to shit and you weren't sure if you or your family would even be here in a year.

Remember that feeling you had back in March of 2020? That feeling of helplessness, that feeling of loneliness. That feeling of being forced to stay confined, and even if you were already an introvert (which I was) it still bothered you that you didn't even have the option to see the people you loved.

A lot changed for me during 2020.

That was the year I said to myself, "Fuck me if I'm going to die of a fucking virus without even trying to pursue my dream."

It was the year I decided to try to get in to Law School, no matter the cost.

Spring of 2021 is when I started writing again, after having written nothing for about 10 years. Summer of 2021 was when I was told I had gotten into Law School despite the odds being stacked against me.

I found so much, back in 2020. I had the worst and best year of my life because I had to face so much about myself that I was not at all ready to face, but once I did, it all turned out for the better.

It made me better. And stronger. And happier.

And I just realized that is why Folklore is my album. Because that album was written in the spring of 2020, when everything was so uncertain, when everyone felt so lost, and lonely, and started reflecting on who they were and what their lives were like.

I know not everyone went through this process, and that's okay too.

But I did.

And I think that's why Folklore speaks to me. It doesn't just make me feel things, it shatters me in every kind of way.

The reason I even started listening to it was because I saw Taylor perform My Tears Ricochet at The Eras Tour, and she did that specific part, that fucking goosebump eliciting part, where she drops to the floor as she sings just not home.

And I remember watching that Tiktok and going, "What the fuck is this????" Because it made me emotional from the get-go.

Now I can barely watch a single performance of her where she sings any song from Folklore without tearing up.

It feels like a soulful connection and even though I didn't think I believed in that, I just might now.

It wasn't written about me, it wasn't even written for me. But it's mine now. That album has brought out more feelings in me than I could ever describe.

It's.. The One.

I'm doing good, I'm on some new shit. Been saying yes instead of no.