Taylor Swift is Seeing “Red”

Look out, world. Taylor Swift appeared bright-eyed and red-lipped on Good Morning America yesterday just as her latest album, Red, became available to purchase. The always-perky 22-year-old also donned a bright red knee-length dress with a high neckline and elbow sleeves, proving sexy does not have to equal skimpy. Just another reason I like her.

Red was released at midnight – Monday morning – and had already hit a new iTunes sales record by the time Swift appeared on Good Morning America. We’ll give it a few days, but Red is expected to pretty much break every sales record ever set. Swift’s popularity and crossover music success is just astounding.

Watching her interview, it’s not hard to see why – she is extremely easy to like. Swift’s charm was turned on full blast, as she seemed truly blown away by the size and enthusiasm of the crowd gathered outside the windows where her interview took place.

When asked why she refers to this alum as her “most adventurous yet,” Swift explained that she “tended to really explore the edges of what [she’s] allowed to do.”

She further explained that this means “exploring kind of pushing myself and taking myself out of my comfort zone, which is writing alone. I think for me, music is my way of understanding what I’m feeling.”

Swift said she got to work with her “heroes,” meaning songwriters who have influenced her throughout her entire career.  When asked how she traditionally goes about writing her songs, Swift said she just “grab[s] a guitar and makes stuff up.” Therefore, learning how other songwriters go about writing their music was an “amazing learning experience” for her and helped her bring her music to places she never knew it could go.

Swift shared that the song “All Too Well” was emotionally the most difficult piece for to write on her new album “because it took me a long time to filter through everything that I wanted to put in the song.” She laughed, saying it started out as a ten-minute song before she was able to specify and whittle it down to “a story that could work in the form of a song.”

Swift also shared that she is writing new songs “all the time,” whether she is preparing for a new album or not, as songwriting is how she processes her emotions. 

“I live, and I write about the way that I’m living,” Swift said.

The interviewer tried to get her to talk about her new boyfriend, Connor Kennedy, by asking the open-ended question of what kind of song she would be writing right now if she were writing about her love life. Not falling for the interview trick, Swift smiled slyly and said, “I don’t really talk about my love life. I kind of sing about it a lot, because I really think it sounds more poetic and romantic with music behind it.”

Talking about what it’s like to live as a celebrity, with so much attention on her at all times – on or off the stage, Swift assured she loves her fans and doesn’t mind them coming out to support her for events like that interview. She does, however, admit that, “There is sort of a pressure to not make a mistake, and I’m at an age where, you know, you’re supposed to be like learning lessons and all that. Making mistakes and ‘it’s okay,’ but I have to kind of minimize the mistakes that I make because it’s important that I – I have these people that count on me.”

In a separate recent interview with The Huffington Post, Swift said celebrity life involves “a lot of trade-offs. There's the microscope that's always on you. The camera flashes, the fear that something you say will be taken the wrong way and you'll let your fans down. There's the fear that you'll be walking down the street and your skirt will blow up and you'll be in the news for three months.”

Perhaps this fear is the main inspiration behind her 1950s-inspired fashion, including knee-length skirts, longer sleeves, and necklines that usually leave no room for the dreaded nip slip so many female celebrities have fallen victim to in recent times. Frankly, Swift’s fashion sense is as refreshing to see as it is flattering on her.

Personally, I adore Taylor Swift. I know there are some haters out there, but I honestly think it is primarily due to jealousy that she has found so much success at such a young age just by doing what she loves – something she would be doing anyway, whether anyone listened or not. I really respect the way she has handled the extreme fame, and I think she is a good role model for the young kids who idolize her. Whether your listen to her music or not (and I think a lot more people do than actually admit it), it’s hard to argue against that fact that Swift is a healthy, positive role model.