Tuney Tuesday #4: Mean (Taylor Swift)

Hey guys!

It's time for another ... TUNEY TUESDAY!!! :D



As Eileen said...:
Tuney Tuesdays is a weekly meme that Eileen at  ***Singing and Reading in the Rain***  and I at JB Kantt at J.A.Y.A.! host. It's really easy! Just:

• Once a week, on Tuesday, choose a song that you might be really into that particular week.
• Include a video/cover art for that single if there is one (or the button for Tuney Tuesdays that I've made up. I'll put it later in the post.) 
• Include the lyrics
• Write what you like about it in a review. Or write a few sentences about how it inspires you. Or how it relates to a book that you've been reading.
• If you don't want to do your own song, you can use one of the songs that Eileen at ***Singing and Reading in the Rain*** or I have done for this week.

So the song I chose to do this week is called Mean, and the artist (and writer) is Taylor Swift. I'm actually a pretty big fan of Taylor's music, and it's just that much more amazing that she writes her own music; she's the true definition of a talented musician. It also doesn't hurt that she is probably one of the sweetest, more humble celebrities out there; she is such a great role model for girls of all ages, no matter what age they are, whether they were an outsider in school or able to squeeze their way into the popular crowd, or what they want to do with their life.


But now back to Mean. This song ... I've always LOVED this song since I first heard it first of all. But it wasn't until recently (maybe a few months ago?) that I really listened to the words. At first, I thought it was just about a bad relationship, which is still inspiring for girls everywhere ... but then I found out that it's actually about anyone who's a critic in a negative and just being plain, well, mean. There's always going to be people out there you try to put you down, who don't support what you're doing, who may just say nasty things because they're jealous of you. But I think Taylor says it best in her song (to paraphrase): One day, I'm going to be successful enough to where what you think of me doesn't matter because I'm doing what I want to do and love to do, and you're going to have nothing going for you other than the fact that you are a mean spirited person who doesn't know what to do with themselves now that I've turned the other cheek. Hopefully my paraphrasing did Taylor's song justice, but that's my interpretation of it. All in all, just don't listen to the haters out there guys; because, you're better than them, and one day you're gonna make it in whatever you wanna do, and then where will they be when they be? Nowhere because they waster their time ragging on you!

This song especially struck a cord once I found out that it was less about a relationship and more about critics. As some of you may or may not know, back in high school, I was betrayed by a group of people that I thought were my friends. Well, I guess it could actually go back to when I was only 3 or 4, when the main bully was actually a friend of mine to my face, and yet her parents would always push her to be better than me. As we got older, it became more apparent (I mean, by the time I was 5, I kind of had a hunch seeing as her dad was my soccer coach for years since kindergarten). She would be my friend one day, and then find a best friend the next day ... and the biggest problem is that all of us, all my friends and I, would let her do it, and think that she was so awesome and blah blah. Cut to oh, six grade or around there, this girl wasn't the center of our group of friends anymore because we all realized that she wasn't that big a deal ... problem is her parents still treated her like she was the best thing since sliced bread. There's SOOO much more background detail to this story, which would probably make you guys hate this girl if you don't already ... but to make a long story short, we got to high school and she started going behind my back saying that I wasn't smart and this and that (because my older siblings were known i my town for being smart). At one point I actually started to believe it. But with the help of my family, I was able to break apart from that nonsense and really just focus on school; because I really was smart, a lot smarter than she or anyone she'd told otherwise thought. So cut to the last year when I started gaining ground on her in terms of class rank (because she was always either one or two ... because she cheated, something else that was well known in my class; we ALL knew that she cheated to maintain good grades, ask anyone in my class). That's when she started being nice to me, as if we were best friends again like the summer of eighth grade where we somehow got really close and started hanging out everyday at my house or her house (I still don't know why ... she's really good at manipulating people, it's actually quite scary). So she would use me, because she knew that I was getting good grades, and she wanted me to help her (or in her terms, for us to "work together") so that she could maintain being at the top of the class with me hopefully in second (I know she did that with my other friend when she was 2nd in the class at one point to). But then she found out that I was taking more AP classes than she was, and she knew she was in for it. So when she asked how did and tried to look at my report card, I just told her I did fine and didn't show it to her. Sorry, this is longer than I thought it would be ... cut to graduation: I overtook her and became valedictorian of my class with her as salutatorian. It was so rewarding, not just for me, but for my classmates apparently too (people were happy that I overtook her too).

Sorry, anyway, this connected to Mean because not only did I have to put up with this girl, but this girl started planting ideas in my friends minds that I wasn't smart. And then once I started working my way up, my friends started turning their backs on me (like all of a sudden because I wasn't below them in rank I wasn't their friend anymore). It really hurt my feelings, because I actually had some good friendships with some of them, and they screwed it up. One of my friends actually ADMITTED to being jealous, and that's why she turned nasty ... we don't talk anymore because after we patched things up she went back to being angry at me for no reason when my GPA started rising and rising.

Oh my gosh, sorry guys this is so long! This wasn't suppose to turn into a "get everyone to hate my former high school friends" post, but I just wanted to lay everything out on the table. I still do have friends from high school, friends I've known since pre-k and kindergarten, and although I haven't really seen them since graduation, I still definitely consider them my friends and I miss them and I know that they still support me and I can rely on them (thank you hometown friends! haha!). But yeah, I can totally relate to Taylor. Although I was never shunned away from the lunch table like Taylor was, I was turned on by people I thought were my friends ... and because I'm such a quiet person, I just kept to myself and didn't really express it to anyone. It was a unique kind of bullying in that it wasn't as out in the open and severe as other stories of bullying you hear about, but it definitely effected me back in high school, and even now when I'm careful about getting too close to people I become friends with. But hopefully my story, just like Taylor's song, can inspire other girls out there; even if it's only one girl that I inspire, I'd be the happiest girl in the world.

Sorry, I won't bore you with anymore details of my pre-college life, but just know that if you keep your eye on the prize and stay focused, and of course WORK HARD, anything is possible. You're going to go on and live an AMAZING life where you'll never have to talk to those meanies ever again, trust me; and it's going to feel great! So although you may be weeks, months, or even years away from that happening, just know that it will happen.

As I always say, "haters gonna hate"! :)


So without further ado, here's Mean by Taylor Swift.




Lyrics courtesy of elyrics.net:
You, with your words like knives and swords and weapons that you use against me
You have knocked me off my feet again got me feeling like I'm nothing
You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard, calling me out when I'm wounded
You, pickin' on the weaker man


Well, you can take me down with just one single blow
But you don't know what you don't know


Someday I'll be living in a big old city
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
Someday I'll be big enough so you can't hit me
And all you're ever gonna be is mean


Why you gotta be so mean?


You, with your switching sides and your walk-by lies and your humiliation
You, have pointed out my flaws again as if I don't already see them
I'll walk with my head down trying to block you out 'cause I'll never impress you
I just wanna feel okay again


I'll bet you got pushed around, somebody made you cold
But the cycle ends right now 'cause you can't lead me down that road
And you don't know what you don't know


Someday I'll be living in a big old city
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
Someday I'll be big enough so you can't hit me
And all you're ever gonna be is mean


Why you gotta be so mean?


And I can see you years from now in a bar, talking over a football game
With that same big loud opinion but nobody's listening
Washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things
Drunk and grumbling on about how I can't sing


But all you are is mean
All you are is mean and a liar and pathetic and alone in life
And mean, and mean, and mean, and mean


But someday I'll be living in a big old city
And all you're ever gonna be is mean, yeah
Someday, I'll be big enough so you can't hit me
And all you're ever gonna be is mean


Why you gotta be so mean?


Someday, I'll be, living in a big old city

(Why you gotta be so mean?)
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
(Why you gotta be so mean?)
Someday, I'll be big enough so you can't hit me
(Why you gotta be so mean?)
And all you're ever gonna be is mean


Why you gotta be so mean?


And a big congratulations to Taylor Swift on winning two Grammys last night (for this song ironic enough!); I haven't seen it yet, but I heard she talked about her mean inspiration in her speech. Honestly, I also have to "thank" the meanie that was in my life in high school, because without her I wouldn't have worked as hard as I did to become the top of my class and to ultimately come to this amazing school. ... I also wouldn't have some of the obnoxious characters in my stories with her either. Who knows: maybe one day I'll be fortunate enough to publicly thank her to where she'll hear how much she screwed me over, and how much I now appreciate her hate on me (in the sense of what it's made me become), kind of like what Taylor did. That's probably one of my dreams too. ;)




Oh, and one last thing ....  
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3



I don't have a Valentine, but hopefully one day I will!


Until next time folks! Enjoy your Valentine's Day!

X <3 O