Picks and Inspiration

Dec 28, 2023

Nothing New
Song By: Taylor Swift

Nothing New is one of those songs that mark a definitive moment in your life. Like your first car will always be your first taste of freedom, your first lip gloss will always be one of those first moments you feel pretty, and your bedroom at 16 will always hold the memories you have of feeling like the world is coming at you. Nothing New marked the first moment where my emotions settled into me. Listening to that song in the fall of 2021 when the world was transcending out of Covid and no one really knew how to act became a definitive moment in my life. Suddenly I had all of these emotions and I didn't know how to handle them. I was no longer the same girl who asked to dress up as a Disney Princess just to go out for dinner. I was no longer the same girl who saw life as what it seemed. Suddenly, I became this hyper-analytical person who wasn't sure of anything. Suddenly the world wasn't so black and white and my biggest dilemmas were no longer what I was going to be for Halloween or if my mom was going to force me to eat my broccoli later that night. Suddenly, I couldn't see myself but the eyes of everyone either looking at me or through me. My emotions became my closest companion whether I wanted them to or not. Through her song writting and the realizations and analysis of life and the world, Taylor Swift has put into words what we are not able to. She articulates this sense of isolation and fear that we won't live up to what we believe is expected of us. She articulates this idea that once girls reach a certain age, we no longer look in the mirror and see ourselves, but who we are made out to be by everyone but us.