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Are you Ready for it? Life lessons from TS

Post by: Bec Down  |  October 21, 2024

I’ve got a new walk on song. For clarity, there is no chance that this will ever be put into real life practice but it is part of our programme and it’s fun to imagine your own walk on. The walk on is an opportunity for young people to experiment with how music makes them feel and how you physically present yourself affects how you show up to a challenge. Anyway, I will stop digressing as I’m sure you’re all eager to find out what my new walk on sing is.

It's Taylor Swift’s 'Are You Ready For It?'. Prior to being one of the very lucky people who got to see her at Wembley I wasn’t really a TS fan. However, post show I get why she is the phenomenon that she is. And, whilst I think it might be going a little too far to call her a role model (I believe in setting realistic goals and aspirations - that’s not to say I don’t encourage dreaming big but the stars have to align alongside perseverance and talent to get where TS has got to) I think society can learn a lot from her including:

Lesson One: Modern Adolescence – By her own admission Taylor’s songs are basically her diary. The world has been privy to Taylor growing up and as she verbalises, with remarkable clarity, what it is like to be an adolescence in today’s modern society. Adolescence is about inventing ourselves, trying out different aspects of identity and eventually settling on those aspects which we will take through to adulthood, depending on how we live our lives. It is also about navigating our way through increasingly complex relationships, both sexual and non-sexual, and the increasingly complex emotions that accompany this. In today’s world young people have to develop a digital identity for themselves and this comes with its own issues. Only Gen Z has had to go through adolescence online which means they have been pioneers learning as they go along. Taylors songs, to some extent, provide us with an education in what it is like to experience this as a young person and how to come through it.

Lesson Two: Tackle Trauma - Taylor seems to have escaped the ‘curse’ of self-destructiveness associated with fame and fortune that seems to engulf many artists. From reading about her and my own observation, it seems Taylor had a pretty ‘normal’ childhood. I would also hedge my bets that the stability and apparent lack of toxic stress during her formative years, combined with her natural temperament, is what has enabled her to remain grounded and not fall by the way side as so many talented artists do. Trauma in childhood doesn’t go away. It shapes our personalities and the way we respond to stress and adversity.  As a society we should aspire to reduce childhood trauma and provide early support for those that need it.

Lesson three: Believe (also illustrated by Ted Lasso) - Taylor had people who believed in her. Her parents supported her aspirations and allowed her to pursue her aspirations, but also ensured that there were safety nets in place should she have not been able to realise these dreams for whatever reason.  I know the difference it can make when someone believes in you, even during times when you may not believe in yourself. It can be a pivotal point in a young person’s life.

Last lesson (a very important one): People can have differing opinions - Despite liking Taylor very much I am still not a Swiftie. Her songs don’t talk to my soul in the way that some songs talk to me. My adolescent experience was a very different one to Taylor’s and as such I connect to different songs that resonate with those emotions. Guess what – that’s okay. I don’t need to be persuaded otherwise and Taylor does not need to change what she does to suit me (of course I  know that is not even a remote possibility but I’m trying to illustrate a point). I’m not the problem, Taylor’s not the problem, we can both have different perspectives without the need to polarise it.

 I’d love to know what your walk-on song would be – please comment in replies.

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