"Last Kiss"

Today's Taylor Swift song is "Last Kiss" from her Speak Now album.

This song tells the story of a great love and how the boy just left and she doesn't understand why.  How she never thought their last kiss would be their last kiss, "I never thought we'd have a last kiss/Never imagined we'd end like this."

Who is this song about?

The hint comes in the liner notes, FOREVER AND ALWAYS.  "Forever and Always" was the name of a song from Taylor's "Fearless" album and that song was about Joe Jonas.  "Last Kiss" is about Joe Jonas!

Taylor said on her website, "The song 'Last Kiss' is sort of like a letter to somebody. You say all of these desperate, hopeless feelings that you have after a breakup. Going through a breakup you feel all of these different things. You feel anger, and you feel confusion, and frustration. Then there is the absolute sadness. The sadness of losing this person, losing all the memories, and the hopes you had for the future. There are times when you have this moment of truth where you just admit to yourself that you miss all these things. When I was in one of those moments I wrote this song."

She treasured their love, was so excited for it, "I do recall now the smell of the rain/I ran off the plane/The beat of your heart/It jumps through your shirt/I can still feel your arms." She contrasts this with sitting "on the floor/Wearing your clothes/All that I know is/I don't know how to be something you miss/I never thought we'd have a last kiss/Never imagined we'd end like this/Your name, forever the name on my lips."  What she had with Joe Jonas was special, but he didn't treasure it like she did. She "never planned on you [Joe] changing your mind." He did change his mind and in the moment she wrote this song she missed him.  For the story of their breakup, check out "Forever and Always". 

Click here for lyrics to the song, "Last Kiss".

"Tied Together With a Smile"

Today's Taylor Swift song is "Tied Together With a Smile" from her debut album, Taylor Swift.

Who is this song about?

 

It's about one of her best friends. The reason she wrote it is sad and it illustrates the struggles so many girls go through while growing up.

On her website Taylor said, "One of my best friends is absolutely beautiful. She goes to beauty pageants and wins everything. Girls want to be her and guys want to be with her. I wrote this song the day I found out about her eating disorder. It completely blew my mind, and this one was tough to write, because I wasn't just telling some sad story. This was real. This song is basically about the girls I know, and the difficult things I saw them go through. I've never seen this song as a lecture. It's really about how no matter what my friends go through, I'm always going to love them."

The song is about how her friend is doing this for a boy, and trying to fake her way through it. She's only "Tied Together With a Smile" and she's "coming undone" and cries, but doesn't "tell anyone". She offers some comforting words to her friend at the beginning of the song. She says "Seems the only one who doesn't see your beauty/Is the face in the mirror looking back at you/You walk around here thinking you're not pretty/But that's not true, cause I know you..."

Click here for lyrics to the song, "Tied Together With a Smile".

I definitely know how her friend feels.  I felt that way all the time in high school/middle school, not pretty enough, good enough etc.  It seemed like the boys never noticed me and if I could just do something different they would.  I tried to be happy, but a lot of times I was crying inside and had no one to talk to.  It was horrible.  Absolutely horrible.  But fortunately I came out of it, graduated high school, and went to college.  While in college I found myself, found the confidence I needed.  I wasn't perfectly healed, but so much more than when I was in those formidable years.  I realized that I was fine being me, just the way I was.  I found a perfect guy who thinks that too.  I am so glad Taylor wrote this song.  It really lets girls know that they are special, they don't need to do things to make guys like them. They just need to realize their beauty themselves and realize the face staring back at them in the mirror is beautiful.

"Everything Has Changed" Music Video

Taylor just released the video for her song, "Everything Has Changed".  This video features a little boy and girl, that resemble Taylor and Ed Sheeran.  They do a ton of stuff together and are best friends.  I won't surprise the ending, but this may be one of her first videos where she is hardly in it. It is cutest video ever! (I've decided to include my take on this video below the video, so I don't spoil it and you can read it after you watch.)

Click here for the meaning to the song, "Everything Has Changed".



The theme for this video is based on "The Notebook" a novel and movie by Nicholas Sparks.  The novel is about two kids that spend their summers together, fall in love, meet when they get older, overcome giant obstacles and fall in love for forever. In the novel there is not much description of what their childhood romance was like.  This music video gives a glimpse of what this young love could have been like.  It is not the same setting, the setting in the novel is a summer at the beach and the setting for the video is a day at school, but the concept of young love and soul mates is very apparent in this video, as it was in the book.

The music video features mini me's of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran innocently enjoying all the activities of youth.  I wonder if some of the activities they participate in were some of Ed and Taylor's when they were young.  Here is the chronology of events in the music video:

• It starts out with Taylor's mini getting on the school bus, where she sees the mini Ed. 
• They make cookies at school. Taylor's is nice and pretty and Ed's is a ... mess. 
• They are in a school play where Taylor dubs Ed a knight, and then they are on a playground.  
• They are in the band room. All the kids are wild, except mini Ed and Taylor. Mini Ed is playing the guitar with mini Taylor watching. 
• They are in PE class, doing Yoga by themselves, while the rest of the class is playing soccer.  
• They are in class watching movies. Mini Ed and Taylor sneak off to look a snake, build forts, hang out in the library, sew (Taylor), draw (Ed), wander the halls, color on themselves with markers, read (Ed) the Notebook outside (gotta include the reference), play with an origami bird made of leaves (Ed). 
• Taylor uses a lego device to give Ed a fake tattoo.
• Taylor dances while Ed draws.  
• In separate locations, they share Ipod art with one another. 
• The climax of the video is a dance in the middle of the gym between mini Ed and Taylor. 
• At the end of the video they meet their parents or siblings, big Ed and Taylor dressed much like their min me's.  Taylor is wearing a white dress, her mini me is wearing one too and Ed is wearing a black shirt and jeans, just like his mini me.  The real Taylor and Ed share a glance and a smile, then go their separate ways. 

This video really shows and portrays the innocence of young love, before everything becomes so complicated. Who knows what these two have in store for them and if they will find their true soul mates as easily as they did in childhood. I hope they do!

PS. For those of you who want to get the backpack Taylor's mini me is carrying.

Speak Now

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of the song "Speak Now" from her Speak Now album.

This song inspired the name of her third album Speak Now. Taylor tells The Boot in November 2010 "I've always been fascinated by that moment, in a wedding because I think it's a metaphor for a lot of times in our life when we're just about to do something, and that's when we realize that we want it, and that's when we realize that we have to speak up."  This song is not about Taylor, but about one of her close friends.  Who is it?

Taylor Swift and Kellie Pickler

Her friend Kellie Pickler!  Taylor says in an exclusive E! News interview, "She [Kellie Pickler] one day comes in and tells me, "He's getting married." He had met this girl who was this horrible mean person who made him like completely stop talking to all of his friends, cut off his family, had him so completely isolated. And I just kind of randomly was like "Huh, are you going to speak now?"  She's like, 'What do you mean?' 'You know like storm the church? Speak now or forever hold your peace? I'll go with you, I'll play guitar."

"The song was inspired by the idea of bursting into your ex-boyfriend's wedding and saying 'Don't do it'-which was originally inspired by one of my friends and the fact that the guy she had been in love with since childhood was marrying this other girl," she explained to me. "And my first inclination was to say, 'Well, are you gonna speak now?' And then I started thinking about what I would do if I was still in love with someone who was marrying someone who they shouldn't be marrying. And so I wrote this song about exactly what my game plan would be..

The secret message in this song is, YOU ALWAYS REGRET WHAT YOU DON'T SAY.  You definitely regret what you don't say.  I love this album because it is all about speaking your mind and letting those around you know how you feel.

Click here for lyrics to the song, "Speak Now".

A bit of trivia, Taylor also wrote another song with Kellie, "The Best Days of Your Life."  Taylor plays the guitar in the music video and sings back up vocals.

Click here to see the music video. It tells a great story.

Kellie told AOL, "Taylor Swift and I actually wrote this song together while we were on tour with Brad Paisley. I had went through a really bad break-up a while back, so we wrote the song about the relationship that went sour. It's so funny, because Taylor always says that she has the 'Picture to Burn' song and Carrie Underwood has 'Before He Cheats' ... and now 'Best Days Of Your Life' - that's my kiss off song! He [my ex] has heard it and so has the person he's with now, so I guess it's bittersweet."

"22" Music Video

Taylor Swift's new music video "22" is here!  And today is the start of her Red Tour!

Mary's Song (Oh My My)

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "Mary's Song (Oh My My)" from her Taylor Swift album.

Who is this song about?

It is about Taylor's neighbors in Nashville, Tennessee who she saw all the time and were a great example of a good relationship and marriage. In the song she starts out when the couple was just seven and nine.  Their "daddies used to joke about the two of us/Growing up and falling in love".  Then they got older and the girl was sixteen and their "daddies used to joke about the two of us" but "they never believed we'd really fall in love". The couple stared dating, had some fights, he proposed, they got married, they had babies and suddenly they are eighty seven and eighty-nine. After each verse the line "oh my my my" is repeated to symbolize the relationship.  Oh my my my, it is quite an achievement to be together like that for so long.

Click here for lyrics to the song, "Mary's Song (Oh My My)"

Taylor said on her website, "I wrote this song about a couple who lived next door to us. They'd been married forever and they came over one night for dinner, and were just so cute. They were talking about how they fell in love and got married, and how they met when they were just little kids. I thought it was so sweet, because you can go to the grocery store and read the tabloids, and see who's breaking up and cheating on each other (or just listen to some of my songs, haha). But it was really comforting to know that all I had to do was go home and look next door to see a perfect example of forever."

I hope that Taylor can find love like this some day.

Never Grow Up

Today's Taylor Swift song is "Never Grow Up" from her Speak Now album.

When I first heard this song I was pregnant with my first daughter.  It made me think of a little baby growing up and the mom not wanting the baby to grow up.  I related to it, but not as much as I relate to it now that I have a two year old and she is growing up all the time.  It is so fun to see her go through the different stages of life.  I know this is not what Taylor experienced because she does not have kids, but it is the amazing way she writes in a way that mothers can really relate.  

Who is this song about?

It is about Taylor! The secret hint is "MOVED OUT IN JULY".  She moved out from her parents house July 2010.

In the first verse she talks about a little baby, "Your little hand's wrapped around my finger".  The second verse, the child is 14, "You're in the car on the way to the movies/And you're mortified your mom's dropping you off/But don't make her drop you off around the block/Remember that she's getting older too".  She then starts talking about herself in the middle part of the song, "Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room/Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home".  She mentions her little brother, "remember the words said/And all your little brother's favorite songs".  And then mentions herself, "I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone".  The next verse she is "in my new apartment/In a big city, they just dropped me off/It's so much colder that I thought it would be/So I tuck myself in and turn my night light on".  She realizes it is not like home, it is scary, "Oh I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up/I could still be little/Oh I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up It could still be simple".  Then she brings the song away from herself again.  "Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple/Won't let nobody hurt you/Won't let no one break your heart."

Click here for lyrics to the song, "Never Grow Up".

Taylor said on her website, "'Never Grow Up' is a song about the fact that I don't quite know how I feel about growing up. It's tricky. Growing up happens without you knowing it. Growing up is such a crazy concept because a lot of times when you were younger you wish you were older. I look out into a crowd every night and I see a lot of girls that are my age and going through exactly the same things as I'm going through. Every once in a while I look down and I see a little girl who is seven or eight, and I wish I could tell her all of this. There she is becoming who she is going to be and forming her thoughts and dreams and opinions. I wrote this song for those little girls."

What is her home like? 

Taylor told Rolling stone, "It's going to be my fantasy world. The ceiling of my living room is painted like the night sky. There's a pond in the living room ... The pond is a moat around the fireplace and may possibly have koi fish in it. You step on a stepping stone in the pond in order to get on a spiral staircase, which takes you up to the human-sized bird cage observatory. They're delivering a human-size birdcage, which I'll put a brass telescope in."

Rolling Stone was invited into her apartment in 2012 and described it in an article on her. "There is a pond, complete with koi fish, in the middle of Swift's astonishing, many-colored Nashville condo. It sits beneath a wrought-metal spiral staircase leading to a human-size birdcage that faces floor-to-ceiling windows, with a view stretching to the green mountains beyond downtown. ('It's the most comfortable place in the world,' she says of the wooden cage, built from a sketch she made. 'It's just, like, pillows and comfiness.')

Under the previous owner, this was an ultramodern bachelor pad. Over 18 months of remodeling, Swift gave the condo a sex change and a heavy dose of well-funded OCD whimsy. The ceiling is arranged in multiple motifs � billowing curtains here, a painted indigo night sky there. In one corner, under hanging crystalline stars, sits a giant bunny made of moss. He's wearing a hat. 'It's a whole Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland structure here,' she says, welcoming me the next morning. 'It's what the inside of my brain looks like, essentially.' "

She told Jay Leno November 23, 2010 all about her new life, living on her own.

"I moved in the beginning of the summer. I've been working on this condo in Nasvhille about a year, doing construction. When I walked in, it was really trendy, and I eventually fell in love with it. But the inside of it was like a dude's bachelor ... and I was like, we need to change this and make it cozy and pretty and mismatched! So we ripped out everything [and] put in like barn, hardwood floors, old reclaimed brick ... And the kitchen! Oh my God, I love my kitchen! It's got mismatched colored cabinets and mismatched knobs on cabinets and mismatched chairs ... but it's very girly, and they're well-matched mismatched! There's lots of pillows everywhere."

"I love cooking. It's one of my favorite things to do. And now I have my own kitchen -- so now I can! And I make my bed everyday! [laughs] I didn't used to do that, back when I lived at home. My mom comes over now, and she'll walk in and be like, 'Wow ... so you do this now? You didn't do this before, but you do this now. Great.' [laughs]"

"Because that would be dude-like ... so I was contemplating not having any TVs in my place at all. I was like, do I really need a TV? And then at the end, I realized I did. But I put it in this contraption that I found online, where you can have it hidden, and then have it come up when you want to see it. Because it's a very antique kind of apartment, so I thought, I can't have a big TV mounted on the wall! It would ruin everything. So I had to hide it ...and you push a button, so it comes up! Sometimes when I'm alone, I'll push up, down ... up, down! [laughs] You can do that when you're alone-- and nobody's gonna judge you! [laughs]"

Here's a peek inside her house.

It is scary to grow up and move out on your own.  I was 18 when I moved out and my aunt dropped me off at school.  It was for college.  I wondered how I would fit in, how it would be.  It ended up being one of the best experiences of my life.  Taylor's been moved out for a while now and I think she is enjoying it, even if it does come with heartbreak and loneliness sometimes, that's part of growing up.

*On a side note, I have now been to one of her houses, in NYC.  It was a amazing and she was a perfect host. Taylor thanks for being so nice and opening your homes to fans!