In no way am I Taylor Swift’s biggest fan. Honestly, I didn’t really get into her work until Reputation came out. A lot of my friends liked it, and I liked it.

That being said, I am completely in love with this new album. Majority of the songs are incredibly relatable, I appreciate how deep and meaningful some of them (if not all of them) are. I couldn’t tell you which one is my favorite.

The thing I really love the most is the mental health references she had scattered about. My favorite being “I keep my side of the street clean, but you wouldn’t know what I mean” from her song “Karma”.

These two stanzas are not mental health specific, but it’s something I had recently learned in group therapy. It was the first new thing I had learned in this program. I’ve notified that there is some truth to “but you wouldn’t know what I mean,” as I don’t think the saying is all that well-known or popular. I only just learned of it recently, so hearing it in a song by an incredibly popular artist I am not super familiar with really excited me.

For those who don’t know, keeping your side of the street clean means taking responsibility for your life. Your actions. Your messes. Your fuck-ups. This is what my therapy is about. Taking responsibility for our own lives. You can look out and see other peoples’ streets. They’re messy and they’re clean. Sometimes you might even envy how clean someone else’s street is, but it’s important to remember, that’s all it is.

A clean street doesn’t mean someone is doing good. It doesn’t mean they have their shit together. It just simply means they appear as though they do.

Maybe some people are doing good and had their shit together, so their streets are clean. But more often than not, it’s just a front. It’s just an appearance. So many people struggle with mental illness, physical disabilities, chronic illnesses, abuse, just overall shitty lives, ect. And still keep their street clean.

The other thing, is that you are only responsible for your side of the street. You are not responsible for anyone else’s street. If they made a mess on their side, that’s on them. It is not on you and it is not your responsibility to clean it up for them. Sure, you can try if you want to, but try to make sure your side is clean first.

We cannot effectively help others if we are not taking care of ourselves.

It is also okay to ask for help if your side of the street is messy. It’s okay if it takes a while to clean it up. It doesn’t just happen over night.

This post is getting long, but I felt it was important to mention this. The songs on “Midnights” are filled with so many examples of Taylor taking responsibility for her life and for actions. Good or bad. Almost every song (if not all of them) has at least one example of her taking some sort of responsibility for her life and her actions.

I really love and appreciate this album. The complexities are just clever and beautiful.