<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"When I was in high school, grunge was all the rage. Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots filled my mix tapes with, in hindsight, some of the most depressing songs, lyrics and melodies ever created. I was your typical teen trying to figure out my place with my friends, writing in my journal for solace and desperately mending a broken heart on what seemed like a weekly basis. I sure could have used Taylor Swift back then. Let me explain. I loved the music I grew up with and when I was in high school, female superstars like Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston were at the top of their game. But they always seemed so much older and their love songs were on a level that I just didn&amp;#x27;t understand yet. There was no female singer even close to my own age singing about first love and what it really felt like to be the outsider, sitting on the bleachers and watching your crush&amp;#x27;s girlfriend lead the cheerleading squad. I was always the girl hopelessly in love with a guy that was happy to be my best friend but never my boyfriend. Somehow &amp;quot;I Will Always Love You&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Vision of Love&amp;quot; didn&amp;#x27;t exactly reassure me that things would work out the way they were supposed to one day. If anything they were depressing and hopeless messages to pretty much suck it up because life was one big heartbreak. Well, I want to share the story of what happened when I saw Taylor Swift in concert last summer. One section away from me, a girl held up a sign that said, &amp;quot;Taylor, Your Music Got Me Through High School.&amp;quot; Oh yeah, I met Taylor at that concert too! She looked us in the eye and said, &amp;quot;Hi, I&amp;#x27;m Taylor&amp;quot; like we really who have had no idea otherwise! That&amp;#x27;s me on the far left and my good friend on the right with of course, Taylor in the middle! I was shocked at how emotional I got when I saw that sign. It&amp;#x27;s no wonder that even though I&amp;#x27;m well out of high school (heck I&amp;#x27;m even past my ten year reunion), married and settled into my life--and own skin--that Taylor&amp;#x27;s music still resonates with me. She&amp;#x27;s singing to that insecure 16-year-old in me who never quite felt pretty enough, smart enough or confident enough on the outside. She did, however, have big dreams on the inside. I found it within to make my dreams come true--but I know I would have felt a little less alone with songs like &amp;quot;Mean&amp;quot; on my mix tapes for inspiration. And then, there was Taylor&amp;#x27;s performance Thursday night on the MTV Video Music Awards. She strutted out onstage looking beautiful and confident as she belted out &amp;quot;We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.&amp;quot; I know everyone wants to know which of Taylor&amp;#x27;s exes she&amp;#x27;s singing about and studying each lyric for a clue. Jake? John? That guy from Parachute? But here&amp;#x27;s the thing. I think that song can be about anything that&amp;#x27;s no longer making you feel good at any age--teen or adult. Toxic friends to an unhealthy relationship with food, that&amp;#x27;s right, we are never ever getting back together. So yes, I did get through high school without Taylor&amp;#x27;s music but it&amp;#x27;s still nice to listen to her songs whenever my inner teen needs a reminder of how just how far we have come! Which artist of today do you wish was around when you were in high school? More Music! * VMAs 2012: Best and Worst Moments (Plus, The Gasp-worthy Worst One We Didn&amp;#x27;t Even See) * What Songs Do You Hear Today that Instantly Take You &amp;quot;Back to School&amp;quot;? *I&amp;#x27;ll Tell You Mine If You Tell Me Yours: What Lyric Would You Get Tattooed On Your Body? Photos: NBC and MTV"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2012/09/i-wish-taylor-swift-and-her-mu>