Melissa Kacar

"Headlock" is a song about finding yourself caught in an endless cycle of self‑destruction and fear. It's a confrontation of the things holding you back, and a moment of allowing yourself the space to begin and to stop letting your own doubts keep you from moving forward. Imogen Heap wrote it as such a beautiful anthem of encouragement and the pursuit of chasing your dreams, an acknowledgment that sometimes the hardest part of any creative venture is simply knowing when to start, and pulling yourself out of that loop. "You say too late to start, got your heart in a headlock, I don't believe any of it," she sings throughout the chorus. "You say too late to start, with your heart in a headlock, you know you're better than this". Those lines can take on so many different meanings and interpretations, whether for yourself or the people in your life, which is part of what makes this song such a special gem in her catalog. The production has a magic...

1989 is the album that truly changed everything. Not only is it pure pop perfection, but it also served as a reintroduction of Taylor Swift that fully solidified her as the superstar we all know her as today. At the time she was making this album, she was 24 years old, cut off her hair and moved to  New York City  in search of a new look, a new life, a new soundtrack, and a new beat that she (and it turns out the rest of us) would be dancing to forevermore.  Anyone that knows me knows how much I adore  1989 , it has always been one of the most important albums for me, made up of sixteen songs that I have listened to probably more times than any other in my life. I could go on and on (and I will) about how much I love every single song from  1989 . I have found endless inspiration in it at every stage of my life throughout the past nine years, whether it is through the lyrics, visual aesthetics or the messages of this music. I was fifteen when it was first rele...

There is a popular saying that lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice, but Taylor Swift has proven that wrong with the release of 1989 (Taylor's Version) . Nine years to the day after she released her career-defining pop record, 1989 , she has done it yet again in the process of reclaiming the ownership of her first six albums.  1989  was a major turning point for Taylor that would go on to define the rest of her career from that point forward. She started experimenting with pop music on  Red  two years prior in 2012, but it wasn't until 2014 when she made the full transition over to the pop music genre. This album solidified her as the superstar we all know her as today.  Anyone that knows me knows how much I adore 1989 , it has always been one of the most important albums for me, made up of sixteen songs that I have listened to probably more times than any other in my life. I could go on and on (and I will) about how much I love every single song fr...