Family Business: Part II

Sister

Fearless - Taylor Swift (2008)

During the quarantine, my sister and I, born a decade apart, were able to immerse ourselves in each other in a way we never had before. We had debates, jam sessions, and we even did a deep dive into the stellar discography of one of the foremost female artists in both of our lifetimes, Taylor Swift.

In 2008, she was a high schooler looking forward to college and I was a child looking forward to the next time we had macaroni and cheese for dinner. I don’t remember exactly when she bought the ‘Fearless’ CD, but (and this will be a recurring theme in this series) she took her young driver’s license and played the mess out of it in her car. And whenever she drove her younger brothers anywhere from the mall to bible study, I can remember “Fifteen” and “Love Story” coming through the back passenger seat’s speakers.

Now, let her tell it and she and Taylor have a cosmic connection that destines Taylor to make music that narrates whatever stage of life my sister is navigating at the time. I had only heard of her from the little white girls at my elementary school and in whatever I mindlessly heard on television or the radio. However, it was undeniable, even for a seven-year-old black boy, to deny the obvious talent and evocation of adolescence in Taylor’s writing.

My sister did not care that she was driving around black boys or that she was a black girl herself. The stereotypes that box in certain people to like certain things just weren’t applicable to the people in my family. We love good music. No matter who it was “made” for. No matter who was singing. No matter if it was gospel or secular.

Since then, my playlists have always had the Colbie Caillat duet “Breathe” in them. My favorite song on the album, it's a subtle and substantial reminder to do just that.

Oh yes, the deep dive. We looked into every song on every album in Swift’s catalog and deduced our favorite, March Madness bracket-style. Songs like “White Horse” and “Hey Stephen” put me right back in the backseat of that call. Music’s best attribute, in my opinion, is its ability to travel you back to the moment when you first heard a song or when that song caused a bookmark in your personal biography.

And “You Belong With Me” is just as annoyingly catchy as it was in 08.

Today, Taylor Swift is rightfully recognized as one of the most talented musical acts in history, and her accomplishments rival almost anyone’s. However, she and my sister are no longer on strictly parallel trajectories. Or maybe they are, I don’t know Swift like that.

My sister is newly married and is continuing to blaze the trail for her younger brothers. Her influence on me and my family cannot be overstated and her insistence on being herself is remarkable and fearless in and of itself.

By Billy Listyl

October 12, 2020