Pop icon Taylor Swift has had a big weekend. Her documentary, Miss Americana, which debuted at Sundance 2020, was released on Netflix last Friday. The film, described as "revealing," delves deep into the singer-songwriter's life, hitting subjects like the effects of fame, eating disorders, love, and learning to take a stand.
Through Swift's voice-over, insider footage, and a few home videos, director Lana Wilson tells the story of Taylor Swift until the present day. The film provides another vehicle for the songwriter, known for her drawn-from-life lyrics, to narrate her life. Some of her words were especially memorable, and we've pulled a few of them here today.
"...I know that without me writing my own songs, I wouldn't be here."
"Everybody in music has their own niche specialty thing that they do that sets them apart from everybody else, and my storytelling is what it is for me". Anyone who listens to Taylor Swift’s music can immediately feel the distinctly personal stories she conveys in her lyrics. She acknowledges her place in the world of music and the value her own songs and stories still hold for her after more than 15 years of writing them.
Her deep, personal lyrics that so many fans seemed to connect with have made her stand out as an artist. A prevalent theme throughout the documentary is that of the singer finding her voice, and what she says here highlights what her music means to her.
"...One bad thing can cause everything to crumble."
"When you’re living for the approval of strangers, and that is where you derive all of your joy and fulfillment, one bad thing can cause everything to crumble". These words come right before a recount of the incident with Kanye West at the VMA Awards back in 2009, where he stole the mic from Swift while she accepted her award.
She explains that all she had wanted since she was a kid was to be viewed as good and to be praised and how precarious a belief system like that can be. She recalls that when the crowd at the VMAs started booing, her mind didn’t register the negative reaction as being toward Kanye but rather toward herself.
"...Definitely not ready to have kids."
"There’s a part of me that feels like I’m 57 years old, but there’s a part of me that’s... definitely not ready for all this grown-up stuff". It’s one of the most revealing quotes in the film concerning Swift’s current status. She speaks to something many twenty-thirty-somethings can also relate to. The words convey a feeling of growing up but still not quite feeling like an adult or prepared for the expectations that come with age.
At a later point in the film, she also attributes her feeling younger than she really is to the phenomena of celebrities being frozen at the age they got famous and admits she had a lot of growing up to do to catch up to her age.
"There’s always some standard of beauty that you’re not meeting..."
"Because if you’re thin enough, then you don’t have that ass that everybody wants, but if you have enough weight on you to have an ass, then your stomach isn’t flat enough. It’s all just f***ing impossible. The singer had previously opened up about having an eating disorder, but the film takes a closer look at the effects a thoughtless comment or a picture of her she thought was unflattering could have. She talks about thinking that it was normal to feel like she might pass out during her performances.
This quote describes a realization she came to that broke a dangerous, unhealthy pattern. She explains that she is more aware of what triggers her, that her body was not meant to be a size 00, and that she can continue to do shows without feeling or looking sick.
"A nice girl doesn’t force their opinions on people..."
"A nice girl smiles and waves and says thank you. A nice girl doesn’t make people feel uncomfortable with her views". Swift repeats warnings she was given not to “be like the Dixie Chicks,” whose 2003 public condemnation of U.S. involvement in the war in Iraq put them under heavy criticism and led to what many considered to be the group’s undoing.
The sentiment also echoes the idea that, in order to be accepted as a woman in entertainment, she couldn’t have an opinion. Coming down on either side of any fight is considered unladylike, and Swift comments on how much this idea has held her back in the past.
“I want to work really hard while society is still tolerating me being successful.”
Swift relates to her audience another inequality between male and female entertainers: women have a clock ticking on their careers. She describes the phenomenon of famous women being “discarded in an elephant graveyard by the time they’re 35.”
Now at age 30, with the public having already turned on her once, the singer is forced to wonder when her own career’s expiration date will come to pass. She’s not looking forward to being discarded herself, but until then, she will continue writing songs, making music, and standing up for what she believes in.
“If you can just shift the power in your direction by being bold enough, then it won’t be like this forever.”
To Swift’s dismay, when her home state of Tennessee elected its first female senator in the 2018 midterms, she was anything but a champion of women’s rights. A self-proclaimed “hard-core conservative,” Marsha Blackburn opposed gay rights and protective rights for women who are victims of domestic violence.
It was Blackburn’s run for office that prompted Swift to break her silence about politics and stand up for her beliefs. She recalls realizing that her voice will help the cause and that using her power to change the course of American politics was the right thing to do.
"I want to love glitter and also stand up for the double standards that exist in our society..."
"I want to wear pink and tell you how I feel about politics. And I don’t think that those things have to cancel each other out". In the modern world, even as more and more women are able to use their voices, many need to shed their femininity in order to be taken seriously. This reinforces the idea that women really don’t have anything to contribute and allows men to criticize them as people and not for their ideas.
Swift, being “America’s sweetheart”, explains that she isn’t willing to give up her identity for her voice to be heard, but rather she will stand up for herself and her beliefs while continuing to embrace her womanhood.
"...Toss it out, reject it, and resist it."
"I’m trying to be as educated as possible on how to respect people, on how to deprogram the misogyny in my own brain". The documentary follows Swift through her unlearning the biases that everyone in America has so that she could be better prepared to step into the role of an influential figure who can drive change.
She describes wanting to “deprogram” the meanings attached to certain slurs, like those for women who become involved with several men or “bossy” for women who have command over other people. As someone who has both been shamed for her number of romances and who is the leader of an entertainment empire, these causes seem to hit home for Swift.
“I want to still have a sharp pen and a thin skin and an open heart.”
These are some of the most memorable words of Swift's closing narration, as she wraps up the journey that the film follows. In spite of everything that has been thrown her way from every direction, she is intent on staying true to who she is.
She has always been an artist who writes her own songs, unafraid to tell her truth in her lyrics, even after receiving backlash along with the applause. She embraces having expectations placed upon her, but, at the same time, she has a beautiful notion that she will continue to prioritize her family, her friends, and her own well-being.