Give Taylor Swift back her girlhood

Is your view of Taylor Swift as a ditzy blonde who sings about too many boys due to her purposeful rise to fame or due to your perceptions of what growing out of girlhood means?
In 2006, when Swift released her debut album at 16, it was all well and good for a lovelorn teen to sing melodramatic songs about love and breakups like “Picture to Burn.”
Seventeen years later, everyone is wondering when Swift will release a scathingly specific, yet masterfully unidentified, breakup song about boyfriend Travis Kelce. But those who think Swift is only romance have spent the last decade reluctantly listening to her before changing the radio station.
Even while alluding to romance, many songs center on larger themes, such as in “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” released on the Midnights album in 2022. The song is popularly attributed as a posthumous breakup ballad about John Mayer, whom Swift allegedly dated at 19. But listen to the song more than once and you see Swift is reflecting on a tumultous journey of fame from fourteen through present day.
The chorus goes, “And I damn sure never would’ve danced with the devil. / At nineteen / And the God’s honest truth is that the pain was heaven. / And now that I’m grown, I’m scared of ghosts. / Memories feel like weapons./ And now that I know, I wish you’d left me wondering.”
Considering that on the Eras Tour in 2023, Swift specifically asked her fans to not harass or bother those whom she dated at 19, I doubt she is hung up on teenage exes. Mayer is not the central reason for “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve.” Nineteen may have been the age Swift allegedly dated Mayer, but it is also when she reached adulthood. It is when her second album reached national prominence.   
Any teenage girl wishing to become a star would write many songs of glamorous love. Accordingly, Swift became a “love song writer.” This label has stuck with her from the beginning of her career, despite her earlier hits like “Mean” and “A Place in this World” having nothing to do with romance.
In Midnights, songs stray far from romance. Swift is writing her own story of her rise to fame. She is taking back perceptions from the paparazzi and famemongers, the tattered romances and fractured friendships. She is reclaiming the past from everyone and anyone, except for herself and her cats.    
The most striking lyric in “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” is, “Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first.”
No dream worth pursuing is without deep hardships. Swift has never been one to state she regrets fame, and I doubt she does. She called the Eras Tour the most fulfilling experience of her life. And yet, the heights of her wild achievements loom like an ominous cliff.
All Swift wants is her girlhood back.
Like many women, Swift wonders how an innocent “Love Story” grew and turned her into a “Slut!.” At what point was she no longer someone’s daughter but someone to be sexualized? At what point will she become “The Man,” unquestioned on if the sordid details of her romances are the reason for her achievement? Perhaps never.
Swift loves the life she has achieved, yet sings, “God rest my soul, I miss who I used to be,” in “Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve.”
She has achieved dreams many would not in a million lifetimes, yet the song ends ominously, “I can’t let this go. I fight with you in my sleep. / The wound won’t close, I keep on waiting for a sign. / I regret you all the time.”
Looking back, perhaps the heights of Swift’s fame have taken her so far she sees no separate self from fame. Or perhaps living a public life has hurt her innumerably, something she couldn’t imagine when dreaming of stardom at eleven. Or perhaps you, “Dear Reader,” didn’t bother to realize any of this because you wrote Swift off long ago.
Swift is far into her womanhood at 34, but she is still perceived as a girl. What is a 34-year-old girl? Is it just someone who hasn’t settled down yet? Does she kiss too many men or is that commotion detracting from The Great Gatsby references in the song “Happiness”? 
And even if Swift loves to write about love, is that the worst thing in the world? Swift may never escape the “Labyrinth” of her fame, but she is taking her story from the media. Public scrutiny of Swift grew from a silly high school girl to a figure of the male gaze far too quickly. No matter how dire the reality of fame, Swift is reclaiming her girlhood.
    Perhaps she is reclaiming her womanhood. Never mind, it makes no difference. Because there is no such thing as a “little girl,” we are born strong women. Girlhood and womanhood are synonymous, and Swift’s girlhood is as good as it’s ever been.