Taylor Swift has been living a fairy tale for the last year or so. Her sophomore album, Fearless, was the biggest seller of 2009 and secured a Grammy for Album of the Year. Swift has won just about every other award under the sun in the last 12 months, too. And it still seems like she’s just about the nicest young star you could ever hope to meet. If there’s been even a hint of phoniness in her consistently humble response, I haven’t been able to detect it.
Taylor’s latest (from the Valentine’s Day soundtrack) is, well, exactly what you’d expect from a singer who’s made her mark crooning innocent odes to love’s first blush with nary a trace of sarcasm or cynicism (and only minor hints of sensuality).
“Today was a fairy tale,” she begins, “You were the prince/I used to be a damsel in distress/You took me by the hand/And you picked me up at 6:00.”
Taylor’s popularity, I think, can be pegged to her penchant for lyrically picturing those moments that make you smile and say “awww.”
“You told me I looked pretty when I looked like a mess,” she says of her prince. Awww.
“You’ve got a smile that takes me to another planet.” Corny, but still, awww.
“Nothing made sense until the time I saw your face.” Awww.
About the worst you can say of Taylor’s latest is that her romantic enthusiasm perhaps confuses infatuation for time-tested love. And there’s a bit o’ smoochin’ too (“It must have been the way that you kissed me”)—a behavior worth noting mainly because of Taylor’s role model status to legions of very young female fans.
After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.
