Burn burn burn baby burn

So much for all of those big words about being so above slick, commercial pop-country.

I fought it. Lord, how I fought it. I spent more than a year rolling my eyes in disdain and superiority. I scoffed at the media attention she received. I changed the station every time she came on.

But then, I went to the CMT Music Awards, and I saw her perform.

Yes, the hair was out of control. Yes, there were pitch problems. Yes, there were hip swivels and a wannabe-badass-diva façade. There might have even been a chest-pound at one point for emphasis. And sadly, the bridge includes the line, “Coming back around here would be bad for your health,” which, I’m sorry, is just a lame sentence.

But… um, you guys? This is such a catchy song. In fact, everything that this girl has written is absolutely infectious. Lyrically stunted, perhaps. But she’s still in high school, so I’ll cut her some slack. After seeing her perform, I got her entire CD off of iTunes, and have been blasting it every night after work.

The word on the street is that she started off as an Abercrombie & Fitch model. Can I overlook this? I believe that humans are capable of transformation, so I will try. In the meantime, I think that Taylor Swift is living every girl’s dream: catwalk struts amid screaming fans and pyrotechnics.

Or is that just me?