Hilliard Bradley High School students reflect on one of the best singers in the industry

by Lina Elmajdoubi

Staff Writer

The following story was written by a student on The Staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.

Taylor Swift performs on stage. Picture by Shutterstock

Taylor Swift is an inspiring singer, young performers look up to. She has had an amazing career starting at age 14. With 229M followers on Instagram and 91,2M is loved by all from her presence on social media to her singing on stage. She has recently released her latest album by the name of Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights throughout her life.

Many Jaguars were awaiting this album. But it seems like it didn’t meet their expectations. Faith Michel (10) gives her opinion “I would either say Labyrinth or Vigilante S*** because the vibe of them is immaculate and I can also relate to some parts of the song.” I really enjoyed Vigilante S*** It wasn’t similar to any of her songs that I have heard before. She continues to say “her voice in both of them are really good and the certain effects and twists they put on the song are really cool.” I agree with this because this is one of the few songs that really stood out to me. Mrs. Wulff, a Sophomore English teacher who’s a swiftie states, “I hated all of it, she released a 3Am version that has more songs to it.” Most people really didn’t like it saying it doesn’t sound like her.

Meagan Kraft (10) says, “I give it a nine and a half out of ten, it’s good but it’s still very new, and I prefer her older songs.” That is very similar to my own opinion, her older songs are way better than her recent ones. Miss Kowalski, a freshman algebra teacher comments, “I did like it, I don’t mind that people think it’s a different sound. Her singing is catchy.” I agree with her. I don't really mind the sound because you shouldn’t expect a singer to have the same sound in all of her songs. But the songs in this specific album all sound the same to me.

Taylor Swift announces her new tour. Photo Credit: Twitter.

Hannah Showalter (10) mentions that “I love how she has a mix of both happy and sad songs. I also like how this album's style is very different from her two previous albums.” I haven’t listened to her two previous albums besides this one, but I assume this is one of the reasons people feel weird about it because it isn’t similar to what she usually does. But it would get pretty boring to her audience if she kept doing the same thing over and over again.

After listening to the entire album, I neither love it nor hate it. Many people can agree it isn’t some of her best work. I love Taylor but I don’t listen to all of her songs. Overall, I don’t think it’s totally bad, but to the many people who have hated it, I believe Swift was going for something different than what she usually does to release the story of her album into the world.

If you are a Taylor Swift fan or influenced by this give this a chance and see where it takes you. She announced earlier this week that she will be going on tour this year. There are definitely mixed opinions about it though at Bradley HS. Make sure to check these dates if you would like to see her performing on stage!