28. Commonplace Article

I read and article on the Commonplace website called, “Taylor Swift: Combating Typical, Scandalous Celebrity Behavior,” by Katie Huston. In this article the author explains how media and more specifically music strongly influences the thoughts and actions of the youth today. The specific example that was used was Taylor Swift’s song Fifteen. The lyrics of this song tell the listener to wait and to not grow up to fast. The lyrics also persuade the listener to respect yourself and focus on your future goals rather than letting yourself get caught up in high school relationships. So many others songs on the radio have negative influences on teenagers. They focus on sex, boys, and appearance when they should be sending a positive message about friends, family, and values. Taylor Swift is seen as a role model to girls today and her songs make them feel better about themselves. It is important to have artists like her because in today’s society there are too many pressures for young women. Because teens view the actions of celebrities as something they want to mimic, it is important for celebrities to make conscious and appropriate decisions. They are looked up to by so many people from a younger, more fragile audience. This is relevant because it impacts the lives of our youth. It is timely because Taylor Swift is a current popular artist.  There are so many pressures that teens face today and with role models in the media; they turn to them when times get hard. We are lucky to have positive role models like Taylor Swift to hopefully help teens when struggling to find the right path in life.