Maybe Charles Dickens had what I’m about to say in mind when he famously penned, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The good news is this: NSO is about to begin. The bad news, however, is that Taylor Swift betrayed us all. I’m not talking about her “Famous” feud with Kanye West (I’m not on Team Kimye this time or ever. My main issue with the massive callout is that Kim took umbrage at Taylor’s fibbing, but not at her husband’s musing that he and Taylor “might still have sex.” Maybe he did make “that bitch famous,” but wasn’t Kim that bitch that made him a married man? SMH Yeezus, hurry up with my damn croissants.)
Tangent aside, Taylor Swift set a dazzling precedent (UP UNTIL NOW) in which she released an album every other autumn, full with banging singles. This semester? No Taylor Swift album. I remember my first NSO like it was yesterday. I would do anything to be a skinny, wide–eyed freshman dancing from frat to frat, on the lookout for the particularly moneyed one that actually had a swimming pool in its backyard (yes, I did not understand what the fabled Pool Party was, but I was determined to find out).
Anyway, the corny–yet–catchy single provided the immortal soundtrack to the whole ordeal. Every time I hear “Shake it Off” in a car or at the dry cleaner, I am tackled in a violent wave of nostalgia. So when Taylor decided not to grace us with another album to be the soundtrack to our NSOs, we were devastated. But don’t fret, we’ve created our own soundtrack. Resident BFF Selena Gomez and arch–nemesis Kanye West are picking up some of the slack. Please enjoy this playlist (especially “Ozma” by Shannon & The Clams, which is technically not new, but I’m the captain now, so please listen on repeat) as you assemble your IKEA dresser, throw a killer pre–game and purchase a back door Pool Party ticket like it’s a drug deal. In the meantime, here’s hoping that T. Swift surprises us all, Lemonade style.
