The Summer of Girlhood: Part Two
By Wynter Muro
Artistry expands all the abilities to find bits and pieces of yourself, and in this case, girlhood. The feeling of being able to deeply resonate with a song that feels as though the artist was quite literally in your shoes is like no other.
No one gets me quite like the brilliant Taylor Swift and dazzling Olivia Rodrigo. The two have curated albums with songs that millions of girls everywhere can relate to. Be it through sobbing, excitedly screaming or angrily wanting to rip apart some formerly framed pictures, they understand what goes on in our minds.
This past August, I had the most surreal opportunity of experiencing Taylor Swift's music live. The two concerts I went to will forever be ingrained in my memory. Witnessing all the different generations of girls around me sob loudly and welcoming each other's emotions openly made me feel ecstatic and grateful to be a part of these moments.
Speaking specifically about Rodrigo however, her sophomore album “Guts” was released just at the perfect moment right when summer was about to end.
Naturally, I tend to gravitate towards the more emotional songs. Upon listening to “The Grudge,” I gasped. She gets it. This song is proof that Rodrigo knows what most of us have unfortunately gone through at the expense of someone else randomly deciding that this relationship is not what they want anymore. And despite how badly we might want to scream at this, we just have to learn to be okay with it.
My friends and I were all streaming the album from different houses across the states. The messages flooded my phone as did the tears in my eyes the second that first guitar strum played, “Pretty isn’t Pretty.” We all screamed at the fact that even someone as stunning as Rodrigo understood the implications that society has placed on us to look a certain way.
The standards range from having to purchase all the expensive skincare to make sure that your skin is picture perfect, to feeling the need to buy the latest trending makeup products so that you look pretty in the eyes of others. And sometimes it even means fighting yourself just to have the ideal relationship with food, whatever that might mean.
This song opened my insecurities like a gaping wound and stitched it right back up. It reiterated the fact that I am once again not alone in this feeling. And recognizing that, is a step forward in tackling any new standards that are attempted to be placed on us.
Yet again, despite the hurt and humiliation of being able to connect so powerfully with any song of hers, I felt comforted by all these strangers who know what these exact feelings are like. In some capacity, it is nice to know that there is someone out there in the world, at this exact moment, who is feeling the exact same way that you are.
And so, girlhood is something that can simply never be erased or neglected. No matter how hard society will try to conceal it or tell us it is wrong to behold. I will wear girlhood proudly on my wrists in the form of friendship bracelets from a concert I went to.
It will be heard in the talks I share with my friends as we dissect an issue that we have probably talked about over a billion times but somehow found something new to say about it with every new conversation. It will be heard in the obnoxious screams that dare leave my mouth as I shout to my favorite songs.
It will be tasted in the “fun silly little drinks” that we all have. It is going to be seen in the posters that decorate the walls of our childhood bedrooms, attempting to cover any bruises or cuts from adolescence. It will be acknowledged in the films I have such strong opinions on that I will challenge any “filmbro” to. It will be caressed in the softness of the arguably not enough amount of Squishmallows that catch my tears on the hard nights.
My girlhood will emit from the results of the personality quizzes I just have to take. And it will be felt through every single woman in my life who has been here before me, is here during me and will be here after me.