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Taylor Swift's unreleased demo from when she was just 14 is the surprise gem of 2025

With only a 12-string acoustic guitar, Taylor croons with a slight country twang.

Images via Wikicommons

Taylor Swift at a 2007 concert and in 2019

When Taylor Swift was only 14, she wasn't just dreaming of boys, cats, and cashmere cardigan sweaters. All perfectly reasonable things to dream about, by the way. She was writing songs. In fact, she wrote a whole demo of songs which she ultimately sent to record labels in 2003.

One such song was "Baby Blue," which became the second track on her demo. According to a Taylor Swift fan account called Songs by Taylor Swift (@songsbytaylor) on Instagram, Taylor wrote "Baby Blue" shortly after her family moved to Nashville. It wasn't until August of 2023 that music journalist Brian Mansfield finally leaked it, "giving fans a glimpse of Taylor Swift's early songwriting talent." With only a 12-string acoustic guitar, Taylor croons in a crisp Mezzo Soprano range, with a slight country twang over a pop vibe.

Now, the song is going viral again, and a whole new fanbase is both loving it and finding Easter eggs sprinkled into the lyrics, creating thematic through-lines so very typical of her songwriting. Such classic Swift themes include small towns, sweet young love, and, in this case, the color blue. But we'll come back to that.

The tune begins with the unmistakable sweetness of Taylor's voice singing, "Small town, big blue eyes, little blonde baby with stars in her eyes." The chyron over a teenage photo of Swift explains, "The story follows a blonde girl growing up in a small town with the color blue (her baby gown, bedroom sheets) symbolizing key moments in her life."

taylor swift love GIFGiphy

She continues to sing about having "blue on the mind," but the description on the Insta-reel digs in further. "At 18, she falls in love with a guy named Hank, who takes her to prom. He gives her a blue corsage, and their young love blossoms. The color blue comes back with their newborn baby, nicknamed 'Baby Blue.'"

The chorus is where she really shines, singing in a higher register, "She was an archangel, sweet danger, living and loving and singing her song. Knew what she wanted, and knew what she loved, and she looooooved… Baby Blue."

The online comments from Swifties sparkle with excitement. One shares, "I'm hearing strong The Chicks influence here." Another demands a "Taylor's Version" (of course referring to Taylor rerecording her masters so that she could own her songs again). And another focuses on the color choice. "It's interesting that she used the color blue to symbolize Joe at later times in her life." (Joe refers to Joe Alwyn, an English actor that Taylor dated for over 6 years.)

On the r/TaylorSwift subreddit, someone inquires about the use of blue in her songs, even before this demo leaked, asking, "What does she mean? She uses blue a lot on the Lover album." (She was dating the aforementioned Joe while writing and recording the Lover album, so theories are colliding.) Someone else adds, "I just learned the other day that in filmmaking, blue symbolizes isolation. So maybe it’s another way of saying that Taylor likes that Joe isn’t aiming to get a lot of attention and was more isolated than other guys she’s dated."

Joe Alwyn, Taylor Swift, music, baby blue, Taylor Swift demoJoe Alwynen.m.wikipedia.org

In the same subreddit, but a different thread, someone else brings up the topic. A Redditor writes, "Taylor uses her own meaning of blue, so it's not necessarily just sadness but rather a longing love. She uses it more specifically in her songs about Joe; in her previous lyrics, it has traditional connotations of blue. It seems to symbolize this sort of emotional, difficult, heartbreaking love."

Seeing as how the theme goes back over 20 years, it's possible she simply likes the color blue. But it's Taylor Swift, and usually, every lyric and idea is meticulously crafted to symbolize a feeling or a longing or an A-list actor or a Kansas City Chief. We might never know exactly the meaning behind "Baby Blue," but either way, fans agree—the song sure bops.

Bassist Charles Berthoud will blow your mind.

Get ready to feast your ears on the baddest version of a bubble gum pop classic.

It’s always fun to hear gifted musicians completely reimagine familiar tunes, and bassist Charles Berthoud is no exception to that.

Berthoud delivers his masterful videos to more than 900,000 subscribers every week, with not only flawless precision, but wit and charm to boot. From playing the Seinfeld theme to turning Beethoven metal, seemingly no request is beyond his skill level.

Take a listen to his cover of “Barbie Girl,” by Aqua. With nine, count 'em, different variations—9.5 if you watch all the way through—and each one more intricate and complicated than the last.


I’ve listened to this four times now, and I can confirm that it’s physically impossible to not bounce your head to the beat.

He even channels Bach for the seventh variation. Holy cow. Kids these days might not resonate with classical music as it was originally written, but therein lies the beauty of contemporary covers. When performed by remarkable artists like Berthoud, we can find new ways to appreciate the old.

If your jaw is on the floor after watching, you’re not alone. People were amazed, to say the least. As indicated by the influx of positive comments:

“Can't wait to have this song stuck in my head all day, seriously impressive work!”

“Who knew Barbie Girl is one of the greatest music masterpieces ever created.”

“Well it’s going to be hard living with a melted face but I gotta admit that was pretty sick.”

I think one person summed up everyone’s reaction with this:

“Dude... How? How does a person get this good at anything? Incredible. It's like seeing something supernatural.”

If you’re curious to hear even more of Berthoud’s bass-tastic tunes, you can check out his YouTube channel here.

And for fun, you can remind yourself of what the original Barbie Girl sounded like below. Yeah, it’s quite different.

Camila Cabello on PBS's "In Performance at The White House."

Holy moly, Camila Cabello single-handedly evokes the holiday spirit with her rendition of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”

Cabello was part of a truly star-studded lineup for PBS’s “In Performance at The White House: Spirit of the Season,” joining legends like Norah Jones, Pentatonix, Billy Porter, three Bocellis … it seems the only thing missing from this show was a partridge in a pear tree.

The singer tweeted, “Such an incredible honor to perform again at the white house. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday with your loved ones.”



Watching it (for the fourth time now), it’s hard to not think of Cabello’s performance of the 1940s tune as the epitome of “classic with a twist.”


I mean, the all-red jumpsuit (those gloves especially), the flowing siren hair, the jazzy, chanteuse-y vocals—those alone feel iconic.

Then cue the mariachi band. And it has all the romance of a Spanish ballad. Just … wow. When music becomes a creative vehicle that transports you somewhere else. That’s simply magic.

The song received an overwhelming amount of praise, both from tried-and-true Cabello fans and never-before-listeners:

Cabello had recently performed her mariachi cover as part of "Michael Bublé’s Christmas in the City" for NBC. On Instagram she wrote, "I wanted to pay tribute to my Mexican heritage with this Christmas cover…I wanted to bring it to an audience that normally doesn't get to hear the beauty of Mariachi music."


I’d say she succeeded, because that cover is truly beautiful. Music is an amazing gift, whether giving or receiving it.

Kelly Clarkson and Ariana Grande duked it out on Jimmy Fallon's 'The Tonight Show.'

There are pop stars, and then there are singers. While recording studio technology can make people sound like amazing singers, the proof is in their live performances.

Kelly Clarkson and Ariana Grande took it a whole step further on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," delivering not only a jaw-dropping live performance but doing so in the form of revolving pop diva hits in an "impossible karaoke" showdown. In less than five minutes, they showed off their combined ability to nail pretty much anything, from imitating iconic singers' styles to belting out well-known songs with their own vocal stylings.

Watch this and try not to be impressed:


There's a reason Kelly Clarkson won the first season of "American Idol" and went on to become a multiplatinum recording artist. What's funny is seeing some people in the replies saying they didn't know she could sing like that. Yes. Yes she can. And she has since the beginning.

Check out this performance of Celine Dion's "I Surrender" during the first season of "American Idol." At this point, she was an amateur singer and her vocal chords were stressed after weeks of rehearsing and competing, and she still knocked it out of the park. Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson both said they'd put her in the same league as Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion, and she's shown she deserves that classification over and over again since.

And Ariana Grande has made a name for herself for her ability to impersonate different singers while also sounding freaking amazing. Jimmy Fallon has had her on his show multiple times doing musical impressions. Check this one out from when she was just 21 years old. I mean, singing "The Wheels on the Bus" as Christina Aguilera? The woman can sing. Period.

So of course, having Kelly Clarkson and Ariana Grande singing together is a real treat. And they've gifted us with a delicious duet for the holiday season with a live performance of "Santa, Can't You Hear Me." Their voices complement one another so beautifully, with Grande's silvery sweetness and Clarkson's rich resonance. The amount of talent pouring forth from these ladies is simply unreal.

As Jimmy Fallon said, "How?"