I used to be a huge music snob. Classical music was the only real music and everything else was electronic trash. Then Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, etc was real music and everything else was still electronic trash. Taylor was the relationship song girl and "don't date her, she'll write a song about you!" Eventually I found this really obscure band called Soundboard Fiction, and that got me a little more open to music from this century, but I still looked down on most music.
Then in January of last year I was shopping and I Knew You Were Trouble was playing and I actually stopped for a moment and thought to myself, "Huh, she's actually a really good singer." Next day, I hit shuffle on her Spotify page and the rest is history.
Since then, music has become so important to me. For most of last year, it was just Taylor, but then I started diving into so much more music. Paramore, Kesha, Katy Perry, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, Lily Allen, HAIM, Guns N' Roses, and as of today, Linkin Park. None of that would have happened if IKYWT hadn't been playing in that store that day. Taylor is still my go-to and my #1, but she's opened up a whole new world of incredible music I was depriving myself of.
I don't judge other people's music anymore. There's no such thing as good music or bad music, just the stuff that works for me and the stuff that doesn't. However, I do judge people for judging people's music.
Fifteen-year-old me would be disgusted and I'm oddly proud of that.