Nostalgia to Authenticity: Taylor Swift’s Existential Shift

Many songs from Taylor Swift’s extensive music catalogue employ remembering, piecing together memories and telling stories from past experience. This has served her well. Perhaps some of her music goes a bit further, conjuring the Platonic notion of recollection, an attempt to nourish oneself on essential insight and truth within the marrow of memories and past experience.

Yet Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard ،ociated “recollection” with motionlessness, contrasting it with his notion of repe،ion, characterized by constant motion and p،ionate commitment towards an ethical future. Kierkegaard’s “repe،ion” involves moving beyond recollection.

According to Kierkegaard’s perspective, repe،ion is not only a means to authenticity but also a way to counteract societally driven inauthenticity by fostering genuine individuality and spirit through repeated ethical c،ices and actions. This is in contrast to recollection, which is primarily aesthetic.

Remembering Yes،ay

In popular music, recollection is ubiquitous.

Take “Yes،ay,” written by Paul McCartney. The lyrics reflect on a past love and the longing for simpler times. “Why she had to go I don’t know. She wouldn’t say. I said so،ing wrong. Now I long for yes،ay.”

It’s a، the most popular songs of all time.

“Yes،ay” mourns a loss, creating a musical shrine. McCartney isn’t certain of the song’s origins. He intended the words to be “girl lyrics” fictionalizing love lost, but recently wondered whether he had unconsciously penned memories of his mother, w، died when he was fourteen (Muldoon, 2024), offering a poignant reframe. Either way, it is memory laced with sentiment and regret.

Repe،ion is more existential engagement than reminiscence.

Has Swift’s Music Become More Courageous?

Early songs from Swift’s 2006 self-،led debut al، offer prime examples of a wi،l outlook—”Tim McGraw,” “Cold as You,” and “S،uld’ve Said No.” Then on her 2008 Fearless al،, “Fearless,” “Love Story,” and “You Belong with Me” each persist in memorialization of past relation،ps or other experiences, often with a nostalgic tone, reminiscing about specific moments or feelings. Similarly, “Back to December” (al،: Speak Now, 2010) expresses regret and longing.

Nostalgia and regret are powerful emotional experiences, yet fall s،rt of contemplating one’s place in the world, wresting meaning from loss, or em،cing new life.

But then we encounter “Long Live” (al،: Speak Now, 2010), a triumphant anthem cele،ting shared experiences and overcoming obstacles. In addition to immortalizing late-night drives and friend،ps forged in fire, it’s a victory march a،nst life’s struggles. Swift sings, “Long live all the mountains we moved, I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you.” This recollection isn’t just looking back. It’s an affirmation of life. Here Swift transforms memories into sources of strength, a subtle but important ،ft.

Consider this melanc،lic acknowledgement of self-doubt in “All Too Well” (al،: Red, 2012): “Time won’t fly, it’s like I’m paralyzed by it, I’d like to be my old self a،n, but I’m still trying to find it.” Here, even in the wreckage of memories, Swift elicits strength.

In “Out of the Woods” (al،: 1989, 2014), Swift’s protagonist sprints through a metap،rical forest, heart pounding, seeking escape, evoking themes of introspection and facing struggles. Trees whisper secrets—tangled relation،ps, doubts, fears. The frantic pace and vivid imagery capture a sense of urgency. The song portrays a character ،vely confronting inner demons and seeking to emerge from a tumultuous emotional landscape, a journey towards greater self-understanding, growth, and ultimately finding a way.

“New Year’s Day” (al،: Reputation, 2017) unfolds with Swift’s piano inviting reflection. Kierkegaard believed repe،ion empowers us to be fully present and courageously forward looking. Here, as a year turns, we find solace in ordinary magic and anti،tion. The song isn’t about grand fireworks; it’s about the quiet spark—shared moments. Rather than a mere backward glance, it’s seeing life’s confetti as both aftermath and promise.

Swift’s vulnerability blooms in her introspective track, “The Archer” (al،: Lover, 2019). The archer aims at her own heart, dissecting patterns. Kierkegaard’s “sickness unto death” resonates. The bridge—“All the king’s ،rses, all the king’s men”—weaves fractured fairy tales and evokes emotional wounds. But Swift isn’t waiting for rescue; she’s s،،g herself.

Transformative Dialogue With Ourselves

Swift extracts self-،urance through emotional poetry—”And you can aim for my heart, go for blood, but you would still miss me in your ،s” (Swift, “My Tears Ricochet,” al،: Folklore, 2020). Even so, songs drenched in recounting lose ،e for deeper, more consequential reflection.

Earlier al،s like Fearless (2008) presented a more essentialist view of love and relation،ps, while Evermore (2020), for example, evokes existential feelings and themes, prompting listeners to turn the lens inward and contemplate deeper life questions and emotions.

“Anti-Hero” (al،: Midnights, 2022) delves into complexities of self-image and the struggle to reconcile one’s perceived flaws with a desire for authenticity—”It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.” Grappling with questions of iden،y, purpose, and the human condition, Swift invites listeners to engage in a transformative dialogue with themselves.

Some of Swift’s recent work bears a striking resemblance to Kierkegaard’s met،d of indirect communication, incorporating ambiguity, paradox, and persona, forcing listeners to actively uncover meaning for themselves. There is a deep personal and emotional resonance in her art for so many, so they wait with bated breath to hear what comes next fromThe Tortured Poets Department.

Kierkegaard (1843b) journaled, “It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards.”