An open letter to the older Swiftie generation
Now, I must start this off by saying I deeply apologize if this comes off problematic or if iit offends the teenage generation but please know that is not my intention at all! I admire and love so many of you guys but hear me out. Hear US out.
Being in the Swiftie fandom when you’re 25 and older is exhausting. A lot of us work full time, are married, and have kids of our own. Blogging and posting and tagging multiple times a day is the equivalent of running a 5k for us.
We come home, cook dinner, throw laundry in, do dishes, help with homework (hell some of us are back in college and have our own homework) and the 5 minutes of peace we have is going on social media and checking in with @taylorswift , an artist we have grown with the last 13 years.
I know a lot of you are thinking, “Well I grew up with her too!” and please believe me when I say I know you have but it is very different.
Our growing up with her was working 4 extra shifts at the age of 20 to go to the Fearless Tour because your car payment, rent and tuition were all due the same time tickets went on sale. Some of you may know this struggle NOW as you are getting older but this is a battle many of us have been facing for a decade. A lot of us didn’t get our parents help because we were on our own.
This is not a pissing contest by any means but please hear our plea and realize how hard it is for us to have been supporting our idol alongside you and feel placed on the back burner because we physically do not have enough time to shine as well as you.
Every day we applaud our fellow Swifties as they get noticed, a dream that is only that for us. We hold onto memories of Myspace days when Taylor may have interacted with us or Taylor Connect days when your thread was wild.
We watch as the younger generation forms friendships while we look “creepy” because why is a 30 year old online anyway, ew. We watch as you gains thousands of followers due to their content and eventually get the attention of @taylorswift or @taylornation and again we applaud for you because that’s what we do. We are a team, a family, and when someone in your family succeeds, you are so happy for them.
A sadness does ever so ironically shine through though because then you are bombarded with thoughts of “How can I compete with this?”, “Will the woman who helped me overcome so many obstacles over the last 13 years ever notice me? Will I ever get to thank her for getting me through that HORRIBLE abusive relationship in 2007 when I was a mere 19 year old with no clue about life?”, “Maybe if I stay up a little later and use hashtags I can get her attention. I can be productive at work tomorrow on 5 hours of sleep and a 5 hour energy. ”
The constant “what if” and wondering is exhausting. What if we try harder? What would happen if we made a fan account? Would our peers call us crazy, obsessed, and a teenie bopper because we run a Taylor Swift fan account? Don’t they know this is the only way for us to get her attention? That we have to swallow our pride and look obsessive and crazy and immature just for a glimmer of hope that MAYBE one day our accounts with little followers and attention may shine through and grab Taylor’s attention.
Taylor and team, a lot of us wish we had the time. We wish Instagram and Tumblr were around when WE were 19 but alas here we are.
Please know we are here and there are a lot of us and we are TRYING our hardest. We have been here all along and support from a distance with hope in our eyes.
So, to my fellow older Swifties– here is too another era 🥂🥂🥂 where we may go unnoticed but we know that this isn’t what it is all about. Continue to relate to the lyrics, buy the merch and TRY because Taylor taught us to never give up and to always believe in something, not just the idea of something.
pixelskylines
amandla
kianamaiart
