Lovely Outliers

One of the most surprising things on my MSc journey was my choice of musical companions to accompany the massive amounts of studying, stressing, sweating, and swearing. Two years ago, I knew Taylor Swift, but just in passing – bopping along to a few pleasant songs on the radio.

Our relationship started gradually – a few study sessions where I put her albums in the CD player, before realizing 12 hours had passed and she was still on repeat. This continued to more days than I can count of me depleting my iPhone battery from playing all the TSwift all the time.

It happened slowly, but soon, I developed a pavlovian response to TSwift, and any time I really needed to get work done, I would turn to TSwift’s perfect combination of upbeat, energizing tunes, that were just chill enough to repeat ad nauseam, without having them intrude into my brain.

TSwift has, for lack of a better term, become my thesis-writing doula.

(Also, About a Boy. All the love!!)

Of all the things I tracked during my thesis (coffee consumption, productivity, level of mental derangement), I wish I had recorded the amount of time TSwift was lilting in my ear. I am sure it would be a sickening/impressive amount!

Her most recent singles (Shake it off and Out of the Woods) and album (1989) were personal gifts to me, celebrating the end of this chapter, providing the soundtrack to the final days of this long and rocky road.

So now, as I prepare for my defence, I am know that I am nearly “out of the woods” and I know “all too well” that “everything has changed”, we can “shake it off” in order to “begin again” and have “the best day.”

Thanks TSwift. It has been enchanting.