It’s hard not to relate everything to Taylor Swift in life, especially on the week of her eleventh studio album. And while I know not all of us are huge fans of hers, I know everyone can understand the comparisons between her life and ours. Enjoy some lovely connections between the buildings we call home and the albums we have spent countless hours crying, laughing, and freaking out over.

1. Debut: Barnard Hall 

Coming to Barnard College for the first time was the definition of exciting and terrifying. As a transfer who began her journey just last fall, I felt the newness of being thrown into a new environment. Like Taylor, her debut album is her entrance into the music world and remains the early moments of childhood emotions that I find went away as I stepped into college here. In all of its glory, Barnard Hall remains the first building most of us will always see when we walk onto campus. Whether we are Tied Together with a Smile or feeling like we Should’ve Said No, Barnard Hall calls us back to remind us of our beginnings here at university, whether we like it or not :) 

2. Fearless: Low Steps

If there is one place that truly embodies the joy and happiness of the beginning of the fall semester or the end of the spring semester, I would say it has to be Low Steps. The place I can be found lying and contemplating life after class or chatting with friends, I felt like this place reminded me exactly of the feelings of newness and school that Fearless gives me. As Swift has evolved from country to pop, this album remains the catalyst for her as a country artist with classics like You Belong with Me and Love Story. Despite her youthful energy, there is a sense of maturity and acceptance that life isn’t always going to be the same as she grows up and deals with love, heartbreak, and changing friendships. Yet, there always comes a time and place for going back to your roots, and here is the place where we will always find ourselves: Low Steps. 

3. Speak Now: Elliott Hall – Beyond Barnard 

While I do believe that Speak Now, has the spice and energy to be considered a fun pop album, it also embodies a sense of acceptance in life that clashes with the outright disbelief we all have in our present realities—because who really wants to grow up and move on? While we may not enjoy going there, Elliot Hall is the place that houses our next steps at Barnard College. We find ourselves going there to contemplate our resumes, deal with negative feedback from our cover letters, and attempt to get our lives together. I immediately felt the feelings lashed out in Mean and Never Grow Up as I sat in that building. I wanted to accept the fact I was getting older and college wasn’t going to be forever, but at the same time, I was Haunted by having to leave behind what felt like youth. Speak Now reminds us that a transition from adolescence to adulthood is inevitable, and at some point, we just have to accept it. 

4. Red: Uris 

When I look at Red I think of the first time I discovered Swift’s music. A chaotic and imaginative 10-year-old, I fell in love with 22, blasting it with my karaoke machine. Yet, as I have gotten older, I have realized how multilayered this album is, and that there is not one way to describe it. Like Uris, it holds many things beyond its walls. From the outside, it may appear one way, but the album holds places we can find a different part of ourselves in. From the strumming guitar and angry chords of I Knew You Were Trouble we can feel as we sit in a study room for five hours, to the whimsical and lyrical feelings of Begin Again when we can finally move on from the library and walk out like a new person (even though the only thing we did was complete one assignment). Being students first and foremost, Uris fuels our academic weapon side while nurturing our souls, much like the pieces of magic in Swift’s Red. 

5. 1989: Lerner Hall

What remains the hub of student life and activity here at Columbia’s campus, there is something that screams Welcome to New York (you go to college here) when you walk into Lerner. From the performances, events, and of course the bookstore, I find that Lerner just attracts this ability to embrace a new path of life. In 1989, Swift transitioned from country to pop and left behind what was once her life. She labels herself as this new pop girl and takes everything to heart. And while I am a sucker for some good merchandise, Lerner proved the place where I too could make sure the world annoyingly knew that I went to Columbia now. It was almost like I was as well leaving behind everything old and the same with my life and trying on a new Style. And while I do relate a little too emotionally to the song Clean, I would like to think of the vibe in Lerner as a place that is more associated with quite literally shaking off everything that was bad before. 

6. Reputation: Milstein Library 

In an attempt to become the academic weapon that I believe I should be, desperate times call for desperate measures. Much like Swift’s masterpiece that led to her changing her life, style, and music, an academic comeback signals the feelings of Reputation; a mysterious and locked-in type of vibe. I mean walking into Milstein can lead you down two different paths: the one where you actually do no work and sit in front of your laptop with your friends, or the one where you retreat to the third floor of the library, lock yourself in a study room and do not emerge until the tasks at hand have been completed. I recommend for feelings of getting into a brief era where you deliver stellar academics to follow in Swift’s path of Don’t Blame and Look What You Made Me Do. If you leave Milstein a changed person, nobody is going to be ready for you. 

7. Lover: Liz’s Place 

On the other hand, all academic weapons need a break, a chai, and a breath of fresh air. Leaving Milstein and walking over to Liz’s Place signals Swift’s complete dismissal of all that is dark and hard and walking into the Daylight. I found when Swift came out with Lover a newfound sense of freedom and enjoyment she had finally found in life. There was a sense of color and happiness, and I feel like Liz’s emulates these exact emotions. The emotions you get from the first sip of coffee, getting to sit outside the lawn just behind the door, or seeing a friend’s face you have not seen in a while. Yet, Liz’s is not free of its own fair share of heartbreak when you are faced with the longest line ever or the inability to get the muffin you desperately wanted (they need more cranberry). Yet, in the Daylight and the overly loud speaker system blasting the radio, you find a sense of love for Liz’s that leads you to endure the massive line because let’s face it… you love coffee just as much as the next person in life. 

8. Folklore: Butler Library

Finally, I’m sure that all of you were waiting for the much anticipated and notable place on Columbia’s campus: Butler Library. And while Butler does have its good days where the sunshine filters through, much reminiscent of the song August, there remains an air of sadness when you walk in because you need to be honest with yourself and know the only reason you are in Butler is probably because you are in a desperate need to lock in. Sitting in Butler can feel like the world is crashing down on you, the never-ending sound of fingers on keyboards and the inability to find a chair in a place that isn’t smushed up next to the person with every book known to mankind in front of them. Swift’s brief departure from her personal life in songs, leaning towards storytelling in Folklore allows us to feel as if she is speaking to us in a time when we needed it more than anything. This Is Me Trying and Mirrorball speak to the endless attempts at proving oneself and living in a world of constant comparison, feelings that are all too familiar in college. Yet, she relieves the pressure that we feel when we leave the library, reminding us that somewhere we can truly find peace by The Lakes with the poets. 

9. Evermore: Avery Library 

But no storytelling for Swift was complete without a sister album, the following album she released by the title of Evermore. Since we live in an endless cycle of schoolwork while in university, there is something to say about knowing you will feel the same way but needing to be in a different place. I bring you to Avery Library, where you can be tucked away amidst the stacks, knowing that you are still removed from the world in your academic bubble, but quietly surrounded by books, fellow students, and your buzzing thoughts. Though smaller and not as critically acclaimed as its predecessor, Evermore brought Swift into a world where she focused on a more calming and magical sense of style than the multilayered and emotional Folklore. Avery is tucked under the Ivy and I found myself continuously drawn to the song Right Where You Left Me, drawn to my own thoughts when I really should have been more focused on the book in front of me. I guess you really just can’t compete with the ambiance of Avery, let alone Evermore.

10. Midnights: Milbank 

Finally, in a swift move back to pop, Swift released Midnights in the Fall of 2023. Amidst mid-fall days, we found ourselves crying and celebrating Swift’s return to new music after having not released her own studio album since Evermore. After re-recording her music, we all could tell Swift was up to something behind the scenes. And while Midnights did win many awards including Album of the Year, it brought us back to the central version of Swift that we know her as—a pop master. Much like Milbank, when entering the world of Midnights, there is a sense you do not really know where you are going. The endless staircases lead you to various classes and departments, and then back again to the places you probably would not want to return. Milbank also provides us with a sense of security as it marks the end of our campus, just as Midnights and its masterpieces of You’re On Your Own Kid and The Great War signal that we are leaving something behind, a place and this era when we walk outside the gates. And while not of all of us are leaving Barnard yet, we will be leaving for the summer and coming back to enter a new semester, quite a feeling I think will hit different, whether it’s in a good way or not. 

11. Tortured Poets Department: TBD 🙂

And as we wait for her new album, I don’t feel like I can speak on the vibes that it gives off, because we literally do not know what is going to come out of this woman’s mouth. I leave you for the week to see what happens next and to think about where you could find yourself drawn to listen to The Tortured Poets Department on campus. I am not going to lie—you will probably find yourself listening to it every single place on campus. And I will be right there with you. 

Header via Bwog Archives