This InStyle article captures perfectly, in the stories of healthcare workers ranging from psychiatrists to registered nurses, a feeling that I have also felt about Taylor Swift during this pandemic. One of awesome but quiet thankfulness. In a time when most of us are trapped alone in quarantine, driving to and from jobs that make us feel more isolated as we care for the sick and dying, “Folklore” came out to save us. It could bring together its listeners with a simple pensive mood, a reflective attitude towards life that seems more than fitting for the times. And one of the songs, “Epiphany,” although on one hand about Swift’s grandfather who fought at Guadalcanal is also a tribute to frontline healthcare workers during covid.
But Taylor Swift didn’t just come out with one album this year. Just as we were entering the darkest part of winter, the holiday season, and a part of the year when all of us that work in healthcare would see surges in covid bigger than our initial spring surges. For those of us who listen to music as a way to cope and who like Taylor Swift, the second album was like a surprise gift. And I am incredibly grateful for both albums.