Parallel Lives

I started listening to music by Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and other artists with the likes of them as I was finishing higher secondary school. Day in and day out I would relate with the music these women made. I grew up listening to the tunes they belted out.  A hopeless romantic, a fantasy-dweller, a wistful wannabe poetess and a self-distinguished self-deprecative personality slowly took shape in me which only came to light later in life. But I also manage to strike the balance world of music and culture I grew up listening to and familiarizing myself with, which slowly got me accustomed to the idea and practices of the western lifestyle. I would note that the person I am now can be credited partly to the music I used to listen to and the TV I used to spend my days watching. Funny enough I used to think that I was the only person who knew there was a person calling Taylor Swift singing songs on boys and about teenage trials and tribulations with feelings and emotions until I had pushed myself out of my shell and started socialising with the other kids at school.

 I think back to my days 10 years ago and I can't help but feel a longing, a desire to go back and sit on my couch and continue watching "Teardrops on my guitar" on TV while grandma would cook up something for the evening as I and my brother would eagerly wait for mum to arrive home. I wonder what turns life would have taken had I not begun exploring the musical scenes of the 2010s. Vh1 was a forbidden gem as people at home were conservative and they had their own reasons to not let me watch improperly dressed characters on TV and the world knows Caucasians are synonymous with the kind of people who are open and free-spirited when it comes to do and wear what they want.
But familiarity bred a sort of, routine, a habitual TV time of exploring what else is out there in addition to the four walls of the home and the vast coconut and mango tree fields. I ould come back home from school and turn on one of those English-content airing channels like Vh1 and Star World and TLC to explore more than just the musical aspect of this strange, new lifestyle. It was all exciting and I even started to know blogging was a thing after getting into a loophole that started with me looking for Hannah Montana videos on Youtube to learning about different cultures on Youtube.


I guess exploration is a crucial part of life. I had my life going on. Me, school, god-knows-what-else-happened-in-my-life-before-blogging because I do not remember much of undocumented part of my life. While I was living my life other people were living theirs too. Yes, people have lives. I know. Most how many of us move a little back from our own visor and notice things that are out of your field of vision? While I was busy making myself aware of this western lifestyle, Taylor swift had been growing up as a musical talent who is now a person that I wouldn't have thought she would be back when I used to watch her on TV. Lana Del Rey has her own set of controversies faced and she is now a woman of sheer grace and buried past that she doesn't let define herself. Nobody should let their past define their present self. The past is only a part of the process that can shape you. This doesn't mean your past self is not you, you just choose not to be defined solely by what the world would seemingly put you down with.


I am proud that Taylor has come a long way, forking away into different personas, growing with her music. I am proud that Lizzy didn't let the naysayers get the best of her and drove herself forward into the glorious road ahead. I am glad that I can appreciate these women for who they have been and who they are. I am glad to have recognised these parallel lives.