The year is 2008, and we’re in Texas. George W. Bush is president. Gay marriage is illegal; cannabis is definitely illegal (and still is in the Lone Star state, other than low THC products for limited medical patients). Not too long ago, the Dixie Chicks, who now go by The Chicks, were dropped from country music stations and blasted by contemporaries for saying they were ashamed to be from the same state as Bush, as they did not support the invasion of Iraq. And Johnathan Nguyen, who will one day grow up to be an insanely talented makeup artist living in a big old city, is in his peak high school years and in the midst of questioning his sexuality and crushes on boys. “I remember the day my cousin let me listen to “Our Song” by Taylor Swift. I felt an earthquake inside my soul. I truly believe that was my gay awakening,” he says. When asked his favorite Swift song, Nguyen replies: “These are very intense questions. I am stoned listening to Midnights. I take relaxing breaths as the cerebral bass hits my entire indica-fused body. I’m currently listening to ‘Snow on the Beach,’ and it slaps so hard. But I’m also thinking ‘Our Song’ from her debut album because I’ve come back to this song time and time again. It reminds me of an easier, more innocent time in my life. Ok, ok, fine. It’s ‘Anti-Hero.’”
Recently, with the release of Swift’s heady music video for “Lavender Haze,” from her tenth studio album, Midnights, publications from Leafly to Vogue questioned whether the song, which features a lovely Tay Tay blowing smoke rings, was a nod to cannabis. Swift says on Instagram that the inspiration for the song is that buzzy, NRE (new …
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Author: Sophie Saint Thomas / High Times
