Taylor Swift, the coming-of-age icon every girl living in 2014 knew “All Too Well.” Taylor’s songs were a great segway into the 2010s: the happy-go-lucky, care-free lyrics of her songs made every girl hit the replay button on their iPod touch. I remember learning the lyrics of “Love Story” on CD when I was 10 years old to sing to my elementary school crush. I even had my fourth-grade cheer routine choreographed to “Shake it Off.” Taylor’s songs were perfect for that time in my life. 

The issue is, now I am older. As time has passed, I feel as though my music taste has matured.

Songwriting, especially Swift’s genre, pop, has explored other topics aside from love and relationships. But sadly, Swift’s songwriting is stuck describing her life in her twenties, despite it being a decade later. 

Yes, Taylor Swift made a name for herself back in the day. But I think nowadays people listen to her music mainly because of the nostalgia-hit they receive when they press play. Midnights, her newest, and “truest” album-or so it is claimed to be– is nothing more than a repeat of what she wrote about in the 2010s, just with a synthesizer and edgier twist. 

Without new topics to write about, many argue she has lost her initial claim to fame as a “genuine” and “relatable” artist and is just riding out the wave of popularity. This is evident in the lyrics of her newest song “Anti-Hero”: I have this thing where I get older but just never wiser. I should not be left to my own devices. I end up in crisis (tale as old as time).

Perhaps Swift is describing herself as having a midlife crisis. Yes, she has reached the top of her career, but in doing so she sacrificed precious moments of life outside of her work, such as building a family or getting married. She knows her lens is limited, and outside of living vicariously through her younger years, has nothing to relate to her audience about. The memories she was able to experience at a younger age have now become her ghosts, coming to haunt her by reminding her of better times as she grows older. Yet, she continues to write about them because that’s all she has. 

I’m not denying her current success in the music industry, but eventually, her writing will get old.