A Taylor Swift CD is apparently still a novelty for fans of a certain age.
The account Swiftie Tweens (@swiftiebabies13), which has just over 600 followers, recently posted a video that strains the line of credulity: Three preteen Swifties trying to figure out how to get a 1989 (Taylor’s Version) CD out of the case.
The three girls, arms clad in friendship bracelets, sit around a table and attempt to get the new rerecorded version of the album out of the jewel case.
The person filming, one of girls’ mother, eventually helps by pushing the “button” inside the case and popping the CD out.
The comments are filled with people astounded that this had to be solved like a puzzle.
“I refuse to feel this old.”
“Now try to go rollerblading without your music skipping.”
“I have to admit, that first pop was always scary.”
But some commenters saw this as a plus: “I love that they are feeling physical media. I think it’s important to see it, feel it, touch it, put it in a player.”
@swiftiebabies13 Hahaha – what is a CD 🫶🫶 #1989 #swifties #taylorsversion #tweens #iamold ♬ Funny Gaming – Lestari Sound
In a follow-up video, the girls—who are 11 and 12 years old—say they know what CDs are, of course. They just don’t have to open them. Or DVDs. Or video games.
But they did put 1989 (Taylor’s Version) in a CD player, which also took some figuring out. And then they tried putting the vinyl on a turntable, which took even more time.
So while people were a little critical about the CD, the Swiftie Tweens are at least experiencing physical media at a time when it is declining.
This month, Best Buy announced it would stop selling DVDs at the end of the year; Netflix ended physical DVDs in September. Series removed from streamers like HBO Max over the last year, without plans for a physical release, also means the work of many creators is just gone.
@swiftiebabies13 When you finally get 1989 TV … now how do you play the CD… 🫶🫶 #1989 #babyswifties #taylorswift #ifeelold ♬ Halloween ・ cute horror song – PeriTune
But the crowing achievement of the 1989 CD post is that Swift herself commented “Wait this is amazing” on the video.
@swiftiebabies13 Replying to @Taylor Swift We can’t calm down and are definitely being too loud 🫶🫶 @Taylor Swift @Taylor Nation ♬ original sound – Swiftie Tweens
Shannon, who runs the account and is mother to one of the girls, tells the Daily Dot that the three are best friends who live in the same neighborhood and play soccer together. The friend in the cast broke her arm at soccer, so the CD was a “get-well gift.”
“The ah-ha moment actually happened before I flipped the camera on,” Shannon says, “when they could not open the case, which surprised all the moms.”
Shannon says she’s also a Swiftie and has been “sharing the love of Taylor with the girls for the last year-ish.”
She said the comments on her TikTok video have been “wild.”
“When you stop to think about it, they don’t play video games, and we’ve been streaming since they were little,” Shannon says. “So I think this says a lot about how fast technology is changing.”
