Taylor Swift "Love Story"

This week, guest blogger Lori Bargeron writes about 5 Celebrity encounters where she works, at Bobbie's Dairy Dip in Nashville, Tennessee.

Do you find it hard to take pop idols seriously? What if they're country crossovers? Is it even more difficult then? I call it "The Shania Twain Problem." It's like a flash in the pan-- you don't know how to categorize them, or how long their success will continue.

What I don't like about Taylor Swift's success is that some people (some of my friends, even) are so quick to dismiss it. She sings songs that are catchy, that girls the world over latch onto, identifying with her love-torn heroine character. And isn't that the goal of pop music? To create something that your audience can relate to, something that makes them feel at home for 3 minutes & 20 seconds. "Taylor gets it, Taylor gets ME," is what her audience thinks, and it's true. Taylor does get it. She's a pop idol with staying power. And all the while a gracious and classy young woman.

Taylor Swift has sold millions of records and won countless awards, and she is still amazed when she receives such acclaim. It is a dream come true for her, and she continues to be humble about it.

Not to mention that when Nashville flooded earlier in May of this year, Taylor donated half a million dollars during a local TV station's flood relief telethon-- the most by any one person or corporation. And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Taylor's philanthropic efforts. In 2007, she helped launch a Tennessee government-sanctioned campaign to protect minors from online sexual predators. She has donated to the Australian Red Cross for relief efforts made during the 2009 Victorian bushfires, and given money to the BBC's annual "Children in Need" telethon which distributes donations to various children's organizations all across the UK. Now, that's a superstar with good in her heart. So, it bothers me when people make fun of her "surprised to win a Grammy" face. And it bothers me when I hear people dismiss her as just another candy-coated tool of record label mass consumption tyranny.

Here's Taylor singing her "signature" song, "Love Story." It's like a diary entry. Taylor has been quoted as saying that her goal is to never write a song that her fans can't relate to. You should take her seriously...I definitely do (even though she does enjoy rainbow sprinkles).