X/Z Song Trader: "State Of Grace"

A Gen X Rocker Discusses Music With His Gen Z Daughter

May 28, 2024

About X/Z Song Trader: Steve is a music journalist, author and musician. Lucy is a diehard music fan and college student. They have always enjoyed a father/daughter bond over music. Each week one of them picks a song and they both share their perspectives. These are casual conversations based on musical connections. Opinions are their own. Keeping it positive.

Check out the whole X/Z Song Trader series.

Lucy’s Song Choice: “State Of Grace”

There’s a picture on my bedroom wall at home of my two older cousins and me at the Red Tour from 2013.

That was the first Taylor Swift album I ever loved. From the opening beat of “State Of Grace” I was sold on her whole vibe. For the same reason that my dad loves spreading the word about power pop and punk artists, I’ve always loved spreading the gospel of Taylor Swift to everybody I knew growing up. I even chose “T. Swizzle” as my camp counselor nickname for a couple of summers.

I think the reason I first fell in love with Taylor Swift was because she had the perfect combination of country and rock influences, the album Red being the most tangible example of that crossover. Especially on “State Of Grace” where she perfectly intertwines country twang with a rock backbeat.

The song starts with kick drum, toms and snare, leading into the first lyrics which follow a country music storytelling pattern:

I'm walking fast through the traffic lights
Busy streets and busy lives
And all we know is touch and go
We are alone with our changing minds
We fall in love 'til it hurts or bleeds, or fades in time

Red was the point in her career when she went from being a rising, young Nashville singer/songwriter to becoming a world-renowned artist with roots in country, rock, and now… pop!

Red sits between Speak Now, one of her most straight-up country releases, and 1989, her poppiest collection by far. It served as a transition between the two, allowing her to successfully transform in the course of a single album.

She did this by combining extremely poppy songs such as “22” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” with more ballad-y songs such as “All Too Well” and “I Almost Do,” while finishing off with a few country-tinged rock songs such as “Everything Has Changed,” “The Last Time,” and of course “State Of Grace.”

There are several distinct vibes on this album that all blend together into a sort of confetti cake of musical genres with a handful of consistent themes running through all of them.

The funny thing is that when Taylor Swift decided to re-record her albums, I was the most scared for her to remake Red.

Although I have always been the most partial to Speak Now as an album, Red held such significance in my life because it was the first era I was really a part of, and the first album I ever fell in love with.

So, when I sat down to listen to Red (Taylor’s Version), I was nervous about how different it might sound with her more mature voice—but the second those drums hit, I was immediately transported back to our old house with my dad’s giant headphones over my ears, blasting that familiar beat.

I realized that as I grew up, so did Taylor Swift.

When I first listened to Red I was 7 years old. When I listened to Red (Taylor’s Version) I was 16. I was a junior in high school and the same lyrics that I loved almost a decade before still found me under a pair of headphones, singing along.

On “State Of Grace,” Swift sings:

And I never (never)
Saw you coming
And I'll never (never)
Be the same

Those lyrics perfectly capture my love for her music. I have been a Swiftie for over a decade, but this lyric in particular is a reminder of how my love for Red started it all. I never saw her coming and I have no idea what my music taste would be like without the influence her songs have had on me.

This is the music of my childhood, but it has also become the soundtrack to my newfound adult life. I’m only a few years away from being “22” myself and as Taylor Swift continues exploring her adulthood, she releases music which helps me to further explore mine.

She has truly shaped the way I view music as a whole and I will never be the same.

Steve’s Perspective

I totally remember taking you and your two cousins to that Red concert.

I was thrilled to share that experience with all three of you as a dad and uncle, but that was also the night that I really started becoming a fan myself. Although I liked many of the Taylor Swift songs you played on repeat, up to that point I mostly thought of her as a “a pop artist my 7-year-old daughter loves.”

That all changed seeing the live performance she and her band put on, including her amazing guitar, piano and banjo skills. I was blown away by the effort she put into empowering the thousands of young girls who were there that night screaming their lungs out. Seeing it all through your young eyes I suddenly understood that this wasn’t “just a pop concert” for you, but something closer to a life-affirming experience.

After that night, I paid much closer attention to Taylor Swift and your relationship with her music. I tried my best to support your passion as much as I could by listening—really listening—to something that was so important to you. In many ways, I think that’s where our bond over music really began, and I’m grateful to Taylor Swift for fostering that amazing connection (and, by extension, X/Z Song Trader).

Halloween 2013: Lucy went as *Red*-era Taylor Swift. Steve was her bodyguard.

I’m glad you mentioned the drumming on “State Of Grace” because that’s something that really got my attention the first few times I heard it.

These days, of course, you’ll find me pounding that rhythm out on the steering wheel whenever this song comes on in the car—usually while you, your sibling, and your mom are all belting out the lyrics. I also really love the dreamy, melodic guitar line that floats throughout the song like some kind of magical incantation.

Over all, I’d say this is definitely one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs…but “Mean” will probably always be at the top of my list.

Since you mentioned the lyrics for “State Of Grace,” these are my favorite lines (in addition to the way she sings the word “ruth-uh-less” a little later in the song):

So you were never a saint
And I've loved in shades of wrong
We learn to live with the pain
Mosaic broken hearts
But this love is brave and wild

I know she’s gotten a lot of grief for “writing hits about all of her ex-boyfriends” (haters be damned!), but “State Of Grace” seems to be more about the start of a relationship when anything’s possible. They’re both flawed people with checkered pasts, but they’ve found this undeniable connection—at least for the moment.

For some reason, “mosaic broken hearts” brings to mind the Japanese art of kintsugi which means “join with gold” and involves the use of gold lacquer to fix broken objects (like pottery) instead of throwing them away. In the context of this song, I like the idea that a broken heart only gets more beautiful as it heals.

Only maybe with red lacquer instead of gold.