Tuesday Tunes: Taylor Swift’s “State of Grace”

Remember when I crowned myself the Taylor Swift of the Blogosphere? That was a full seven years ago, if you can believe it, and I was already deep into my T-Swift addiction by that point. It was bad, as I’m sure you can imagine — I’d listen to her albums over and over, memorizing every single lyric to every single song. Her songs became my anthems and her stories became my stories. I love all the songs, sure, but there were a few that have stood the test of time over the years. You know how a really powerful song can make you super emotional from the first time you hear it? It’s like something takes over your heart and you have to sit down and go, “hey, did she take those words right out of my head?” That’s how I’ve always felt about my favorite tune from Taylor’s fourth studio album…

Taylor Swift’s “State of Grace”

From Red

Say what you want about Taylor, but the girl KNOWS how to write a killer song. And by killer song, I mean one that punches you in the gut with its emotional hooks and heartfelt lyrics. Maybe it’s because she sings about what she knows and she sings about everything she’s going through. She’s not afraid to bare her soul and expose her true feelings for the entire world; that, coincidentally, is exactly what I’ve tried to do with So About What I Said, and I’d say I’ve done pretty well over the years, wouldn’t you??

I’m walking fast through the traffic lights
Busy streets and busy lives
And all we know is touch and go
We are alone with our changing minds
We fall in love till it hurts or bleeds, or fades in time


And I never saw you coming
And I’ll never be the same

Life moves pretty fast, as the wise Ferris Bueller once told us. We’re in our own worlds most of the time and just trying to stay afloat. Work. Family obligations. Appointments. It gets to a point where we find ourselves simply going through the motions as if we were on autopilot — everything eventually becomes such a routine, such a chore, and we don’t even know if we’re coming or going half the time. Some may even call it a rut, and, honestly, that’s a pretty accurate word to describe that ho-hum state of existence. We may know that there’s more out there than what we’re living, but searching for it hasn’t yielded anything worthwhile, much to our disappointment.

And then, it happens. We meet that person. Like a scene from a perfect rom-com, he just waltzes into your life when you least expect it; yet something about the whole thing feels like a beautiful twist of fate. And before you start wondering, yes, I did experience this first-hand a few years ago. There was me and there was a guy. I wasn’t looking for him, but he found me somehow. I never saw him coming, couldn’t have predicted how he’d make me feel or the mark he’d leave on my heart. And I’ll certainly never be the same ever again — or be able to forget him, for that matter.

You come around and the armor falls
Pierce the room like a cannon ball
Now all we know, is don’t let go
We are alone just you and me
Up in your room and our slates are clean
Just twin fire signs, four blue eyes

I don’t know if he ever picked up on my feelings or even if he could ever feel the same about me, but those feelings? My gosh, they sure meant something to me — at the time, they meant the world to me. He had this way of bringing me out of my shell, and for the first time in my life, I was saying things I’d never said to anyone else before. I had this new sense of courage, this fierce bravado, and I loved it. I couldn’t help but let down my ‘armor’ whenever he was around. I don’t know how he did it, but he had this way of getting through to me; I felt like he was the first guy to actually see me, you know? It was all very refreshing and freeing. I laughed genuinely and I smiled spontaneously.


So you were never a saint
And I love in shades of wrong
We learn to live with the pain
Mosaic broken hearts
But this love is brave and wild

So often in life, I feel like so much is left to chance — so much is out of our control and we’re just struggling to find something we can grasp onto. When that one person comes into your life, it swiftly changes everything. Yeah, we may be flawed, broken people by ourselves, but with that right person, it’s like you two come together and it’s just right. Like two puzzle pieces, you just fit together. Even if the relationship never progresses beyond the friendship level, as in my case, that doesn’t mean it can’t be ‘brave and wild’ all on its own. It can still be beautiful and life-affirming. I have a feeling that I’ll look back on this relationship in 50 years and still laugh and smile every single time.

Have you ever had a relationship like that, friends? Was it the kind that you never saw coming and then realized it was exactly what you needed?? Tell me all about it in the comments! xoxo