Taylor Swift, diary extract March 2009: ‘I feel like I’m the girl before ‘the one’

Taylor Swift has released her seventh album, Lover (read The Independent’s review here), and it’s receiving an overwhelmingly positive response so far.

The record is a drastic switch in sound to her previous record, Reputation, with singles “ME!”, “You Need to Calm Down”, “The Archer” and “Lover” shared ahead of its release.

Swift is also releasing a number of excerpts from her diaries over the years, which reveal insights into her thoughts as her career progressed, as well as a then-teenage Swift’s views on love and relationships.

In the below extract from March 2009 – 10 years ahead of the release of Lover, a then-19-year-old Swift comes across as somewhat sceptical about love, and writes about believing she is the girl boys date before they go on to meet “the one”.

Swift has been in a relationship with actor Joe Alwyn for around two years, and many of the songs on Lover are believed to be about him, including "London Boy", which references a number of Swift's favourite locations around the city.

Read the full diary extract below:

Hi,

It’s me, the girl who always forgets to write in her journal. Oh yea. Her. I just got back from Australia. I was there for 2 weeks and it was amazing. Gorgeous there. So… what else has happened since I wrote. I was on the cover of Rolling Stone. My town has sold out every venue including Madison Square Garden (in 1 minute) and Staples Centre (in 2).

I somehow feel like it’s my destiny to roll my eyes at happy couples and resent Valentine’s Day. I also feel like I’m the girl before “the one”. I’m not “the one”. I’m the girl you think is the one for you, and when it doesn’t work out with me, you meet the next girl, and realize she IS the one. The one you’re gonna stay with. I might get married. But I think it’s ultimately my fate to light candles and pine away and roll my eyes at happy couples and resent Valentine’s Day.”

Lover, the new album from Taylor Swift, is out now

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