Music is one of the biggest parts of my life that bring so much light and happiness. I’m not talented in music however have always had an appreciation towards the amount of positive impact the art allows people to feel. Your music was the first sound that allowed me to stray away from the artists I grew up listening to with my dad. Love story was the first song that allowed me to discover my own love and taste in music.
For a lot of my life, I have been too young to relate myself completely to your music, however your thoughts and ideas in your songs, the opinions you stand by and the ideas that you stand for, I’ve always grown up to look up to you as a massive influence. I feel as if a part of me has been shaped through your understanding of love and life.
I turned 21 this February. As I’ve grown up, gone through a few big life experiences, I can fully relate all my experiences to each of your songs. I went through a rough couple years with a lot of loss. I went through my first heartbreak and an incident that broke me completely late last year.
Your music helped me over the years, dealing with the loss a few family members. It brought life, energy and happiness in a time which, I didn’t really know who I was, or what I was feeling. But in the moments where I listened to your music, I felt the energy I never had and I smiled in ways I couldn’t find myself to do so.
A lot of your music is your experiences of love and loss. I fell in love and while listening to all your music, I understood the words you had written at a level deeper than the surface because I experienced the same sensations. Reputation came out when my relationship started and the feelings I felt, they allowed your songs, your stories, to becomes stories of my own life. The biggest thing was that your music put into words the feelings I didn’t know how to describe.
Late last year, the relationship ended, and funny enough, but over a two minute phone call. Everyone experiences heartbreak, in different ways. But the feeling that I believe remains constant for everyone, is that while you know there is light at the end of the tunnel, no one ever knows how long the tunnel really is. The hardest part is knowing that one day you will feel at ease, the tears will come to an end and you will feel okay again. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever get better though because its been a while and I still avoid specific streets, certain ice creams, special restaurants, and music. Music which reminded me of him. Lover came out a week before it happened. It meant the world to me, and every song I listened to, I made it my own, but that meant untangling memories of him to each song.
I spent months avoiding reputation and lover. Slowly, I found myself beginning to listen to reputation. With Lover, I still fear that listening to the album would be too overwhelming or bring up too many negative emotions. However today, I listened to the entire album. It may be something small, but I just felt like it was a little victory that allowed me to say that, yeah, I’m going to be okay.
Your music makes me feel so content, and that album was really special to me. The song, The Man was a song that I felt was so powerful, and something that needed to be said allowed. I’m currently at university, studying electrical engineering. There has always been a greater number of men within the specialisation than woman. Over the years, there has been an increase of woman in engineering, and there is such a big encouragement for woman to try equal out the gender ratio, I didn’t believe that I would notice the indifference in the way men and woman are treated. I believed in the current day, there would be no difference to how the specialisation is taught within a classroom. However I did, and it is the most discouraging thing to be treated as below a man. Going into a lab with the male tutor only referring to the male students felt demotivating as well as hurtful. The Man is such a powerful message that people feel is already made aware, however it is not. The impact this song had was incredible and I hope it allows more understanding in the world.
Also, your trial was one of the most inspiring moments. I didn’t understand what to do at the time myself, but I ended up telling my story in the hopes that another woman didn’t experience the same thing I did. Watching your Netflix documentary, it allowed comfort, knowing that I was not the only person that felt the way I did for wanting to speak up. The exhaustion of having to retell your story to people that you don’t know and whether they will believe you or not. I just wanted to say thank you because that was really inspiring for myself.
From over the last couple years, even though they were the hardest experiences I have ever faced, I wouldn’t change anything because I know everything I went through, brought me to where I currently stand today. Although I have my bad days, I have become a person I am proud to be. I have done a few things that I’ve always wanted to do, I work a lot harder, I’ve become healthier, more social, and all in all, I am finally happy x
I feel like I lived out 1989, repuation, Speak Now and Read, I’m hoping to find my Lover era. I just wanted to say thank you for the art you choose to share with the world and the role model you choose to be for us all. You help take from the negative emotions and pushes it towards happier and lighter emotions x
