You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift

Yet again, I’m posting this late. I’m still considering this one as the December post.

This month’s song was a request from a friend. I wasn’t asked to do this song specifically – just any Taylor Swift song. Today we are going to look at the song You Belong With Me. iTunes tells me that it is currently the 3rd most popular Taylor Swift song (the new Hunger Games song and Love Story coming in at 1st and 2nd respectively). A quick glance at my play counts also reveals that You Belong With Me is my most played Taylor Swift song.

I think that I’m going to stop copying and pasting all the lyrics for songs into my posts, as it doesn’t do much except fill the page up. So here is a link to the lyrics instead: http://www.metrolyrics.com/you-belong-with-me-lyrics-taylor-swift.html

Like the last song I did, this is another love song. So what is the story here? The main girl/singer – let’s call her Sarah – is your typical unpopular high school girl. We may also be able to attach the label of nerd to her. There are a few things that Sarah mentions to give us this image: She wears t-shirts, sneakers, and listens to music that popular kids don’t like. Sarah also likes this guy she knows – we’ll call him Tom – but she either doesn’t have the nerve to tell him, or she told him and got turned down. The former seems much more likely to be the case – if she had been turned down for another girl, she might be singing Better Than Revenge instead. At any rate, Sarah likes Tom, but Tom has a girlfriend – Samantha. Samantha is described as a stereotypical high school prom queen. She is the cheer captain, wears provocative clothing, and mostly cares about herself.

From the way things are setup, it’s obvious to the listener that Tom needs to get a clue, break up with Samantha, and get together with Sarah. So is there a problem here? Well, although they are small, I think there are a few things to think about.

The first is Tom’s behavior. He as a girlfriend, and yet he obviously spends a certain amount of ‘alone time’ with Sarah. Not always a bad thing, but it probably is most of the time. And in his situation, it almost definitely is a bad move. As a matter of fact, you could say that Tom and he bad decisions is/are to blame for the whole song. He dates the attractive, popular, Samantha, and spends time telling Sarah his dreams and inner thoughts. So in the end, the average listeners gut-feeling is probably right – He needs to leave Samantha and move onto Sarah. Why should he do this? Ultimately, because he has a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Sarah. And the popularity and looks that Samantha has will disappear as the years go by.

So Tom has problems, but what about Sarah? Well, the general feeling I get from her is that she is a bit of a recluse. This is probably where Tom has trouble, as it’s extremely hard to leave the popular group for the girl who likes to be alone. So is this Tom’s fault? I’m inclined to say no. Sarah needs to learn to stop feeling sorry for herself. She needs to get off the bleachers and do something. She can’t just expect to stay the same and have Tom wake up one day and decided to switch girlfriends. And to bring this back full-circle, if she really thinks that Tom belongs with her, she needs to tell Tom how she feels.

So what is the take away from this song? Make decisions. Embrace change. We cannot sit passively and wait for events to take their “natural course.” Because the act of doing nothing is unnatural in itself. Tom needs to make a decision, stay with Samantha or switch to Sarah – if all you do is sit on the fence you’ll find the only thing you’re left with is a sore butt. Sarah needs to take action as well. If she doesn’t like her situation, then she needs to change it.

Should we listen to this song? I say, if you like it, go for it. The only real complaint that I can come up with is that it’s a very “plain vanilla” song as far as a meaningful message goes. The song is basically just a story about the relationship between these people.

This is something that bothers me about Taylor Swift as an artist. Most, if not all, of her songs are about relationships – many of which are dysfunctional. Although the individual songs may not send a strong message, I think that many people (probably more commonly girls) will look to her as an example of how relationship should be. I think that she does not set a good example for people at all. She seems to have been in relationship after relationship, and they all end (many of them badly). What’s wrong with relationships ending you might ask? Nothing. Except when you become someone who starts and ends relationships like riding roller coasters at six flags.

One of the big problems with people today is that they treat relationships lightly, and one of the reasons we do this is because we see celebrities (people who are deemed successful by others) jump in a out of relationships just like Taylor does in her songs.
However, although the relationships of the world seem to crumble everyday, we can take comfort in the fact that this reality only makes the Gospel message that much better. Jesus is the only one who will never leave you. You might make bad decisions, or sit stagnant in indecision, but Jesus will always be calling out to you, saying: “You Belong With Me.”

Son of the Most High,
Teegan

P.S. What do you think about this song? What song should I do next? Leave a comment letting me know!