The Gryphon Gazette

By: Erin M. ‘28

We all might’ve had some ideas on how much our PAC members like Taylor Swift… but how well do we actually know them…? Let’s find out! In this interview series, I asked 14 PAC members to rate how much they like Taylor Swift from a scale of 1-10 and then played three of Swift’s most popular songs: Cruel Summer, You Belong with Me, and Shake It Off, to see if they knew them. 

“Negative two,” Mr. Morgan immediately exclaimed when I asked him to rank Ms. Swift. “I pride myself in not knowing her song names,” he announced loudly. However, despite his strong dislike for her, Mr. Morgan still admitted that he recognized the three songs I played. Perhaps negative two may seem bad, but upon more interviews, that wasn’t the lowest score. 

When asking Dr. Parsons about her love for Swift, she hesitated before giving a score of “negative five,” the lowest of this interview. When asked if she would recognize any of Swift’s songs, Dr. Parsons responded, “I would think it was Miley Cyrus singing.”

No PAC members gave Swift a solid ten, many saying because they weren’t die hard Swifties. However, four of the PAC members interviewed, Ms. Tomatis, Ms. Gariak, Ms. Matossian, and Mr. Diamond, still gave her a solid 9, while two PAC members, Ms. Shin and Ms. Kwon, gave her an 8. Furthermore, almost all PAC members, except for Ms. Fawcett and Dr. Parsons, were able to recognize and name Shake it Off. Ms. Geriak awarded the record, guessed Shake it Off in one second, Ms. Yunis (5.5), Ms. Tomatis (9), Ms Kwon (8) guessed Shake it Off in two seconds, and Ms. Matossian (9) and Ms. Shin (8) guessed Shake it Off in three seconds. The PAC had a little more trouble with You Belong With Me, Mr. Bell (5) getting the record guess in two seconds, despite him being “more of a Livie”. Following Mr. Bell, Ms. Kwon (8) guessed it in four seconds, and Ms. Gariak (9) guessed You Belong with Me in seven seconds. Most PAC did not know the name of the song, but the majority were singing along as soon they heard the lyrics. Although Cruel Summer was a more recent hit, most PAC had the most trouble guessing this song. With Ms. Kwon guessing the fastest with five seconds, the rest of the PAC trailed behind, only with Mr. Diamond (8) guessing in 16 seconds, Ms Gariak (9) guessing in 24 seconds, and Mr. Bell (5) guessing in 36 seconds.

Overall, our top 3 PAC members who knew Taylor Swift the best (but not necessarily liked her the most) were Ms. Kwon (8) with five seconds for Cruel Summer, four seconds for You Belong with Me and two seconds Shake it Off, Ms. Gariak (9) with 24 seconds for Cruel Summer, seven seconds for You Belong With Me, and 1 second for Shake it off, and Mr. Bell (5), with 36 seconds for Cruel Summer, two seconds for You Belong with Me, and four seconds for Shake it Off. 

In sum, out of the fourteen PAC I interviewed, six PAC members ranked Swift a 5-6, six ranked her an 8-9, and two ranked her in the negatives. Nevertheless, most PAC members recognized at least one Taylor Swift song, if not all three, just showing Swift’s influence on our PAC, whether they personally enjoy her music or not.