For the ones who used to idolise Hannah Montana in their childhood or teenage years, this has been quite a week!

Miley Cyrus finally gave the fans of Hannah Montana (her Disney persona) an hour-long walk-down-the-memory-lane. If you’ve been a fan of Hannah before Miley, you would know that there was a time when Miley Cyrus was sick of the persona she was playing for years on Disney TV. She was so done with it that we thought, at least I thought, that we would never again get to see Hannah and Miley together in this lifetime.

For those of us who grew up watching the show, Miley was never a separate person from Hannah. Both were the same person, but living different lives. So, when the show ended with Miley taking a long leap to shed her Hannah-skin, we were heartbroken. And some of that has been addressed in the new song that came out with the Hannahversary (Younger You).

Although I stopped watching the show after two seasons, I remember that I used to love the idea of living a double life and having friends and family who see you through the thick and thin of it. Moreover, what I really used to love and still cannot get enough of is Miley’s music. Be it as Hannah or Miley, I’ve loved her songs and lyrics. I still go back to playing The Climb whenever I need to ‘keep the faith’ about certain things.

But hey, let’s dive into Hannahversary special and talk about the moments that stood out to me more than others, shall we?

Fake It Till You Make It

During this episode, Miley talks about how she was being asked about Hannah Montana anniversary at events she attended. Instead of denying anything, she kept people on toes by saying that she’s been thinking about it, working on it, and it’s totally happening. In reality, however, she was doing that so she could convince Disney that people really want a Hannah Montana anniversary.

This reminded me that even though she’s Miley Cyrus and basically the one who made Hannah Montana so popular with her charisma, she couldn’t just make this happen if she wanted to. It had to have the potential to have an audience to get a green light.

And yet, accepting and believing that a Hannahversary is already underway is what helped to bring it to life.

Bottom line, fake it till you make it, babe!

“You Really Taught Me To Be Who I Am”

On screen, Hannah Montana and Miley Stewart had a great relationship with her father. Later on, when I discovered that Miley is managed by her mother, Tish Cyrus, I had no difficulty in imagining an amicable relationship between this mother-daughter duo. I have no idea why.

So, when Tish and Miley enter the envy-inducing Hannah Montana closet, we finally start to see how involved Tish had been in that show and still is in Miley's life. Then there’s a moment when both of them are looking through a memory book. Miley admits how Tish had always made her express who she truly is, and that it was because of her mother she is who she is.

The hug that followed is what I’ve always known in my heart. It felt really good to see them have that moment.

Hannah’s Wig Change Through the Seasons

Okay, I remember why I quit watching the show. It was the wig. Definitely, the wig.

And it felt so good to know that Miley and Tish almost quit the show because of it. I wish they had tried to bring back the Season 1 & 2 wig. I never liked that wavy, shorter hair on Hannah Montana. Turns out, neither did Miley. Ha!

Miley & her Father Reading a Scene Together

I had no idea that Miley had a fallout with her father at the end of the show. Their bond on-screen seemed so genuine that anything else was a little shocking. But Billy Ray Cyrus did show up, and they read a part from a scene in the last season of the show. And well, it was the first time I was watching that scene. It was funny and I'm glad it stayed true to its comedic nature even in the last few episodes.

What was so weirdly genuine about them together in this special was that moment when they tried to do their odd handshake thing. It was an endearing moment as she tried but couldn’t remember half of it, but her father kept it going… it felt like she was a kid again. I don’t think it was just me who misses that version of Miley (or ourselves).

Unexpected Cameo by Selena Gomez

I have to admit that I might’ve gotten introduced to Selena Gomez through Hannah Montana. But the on-screen rivalry between Hannah and Mikayla was something that was just hilarious. In my head, all these queens are super friendly with each other.

But since Selena was never a big part of the show, I was not expecting her to appear. That part was like meeting your old friend and reminiscing about the good old times. I wish it was a bit longer, but then I wished the entire special was longer, really. Just the fact that they saw how their characters were so mean to each other and said sorry was so damn cute.

What else?

Well, I absolutely loved the performances. I have always loved the songs more than the show anyway. And I was thrilled to see Miley perform The Climb after ages. The Climb is one of my most favourite songs ever. The power of this song to keep me motivated through tough times is immense.

What I didn’t like about this special though, is how rushed everything felt. Plus, the moment when Miley was asked about Taylor Swift being in The Hannah Montana Movie, it just felt weird how there was an unnecessary attempt to turn it into a dramatic moment. Again, in my head, these queens are all about living their own lives and lifting each other up. So, when she mentioned "get your tea kettle out" or "Tish is standing with the lawyers" or "no shade", it just felt weird and so unnecessary.

But I was a little amazed by how performers assess where they're going to perform, even if it's in a freaking movie. And it seems totally normal and so amazing that they got Taylor to do that part in HM movie. 

We loved Taylor in that barn. I loved her more than I loved Miley there.

Yes, I love Hoedown Throedown, but Crazier was way too good.

Anyway, Miley did follow up that sticky moment with a praise for Taylor and the song she wrote for the ending of the movie. Her words? "Banger. She ate with that one."

Of course, she did.

What did you like about the Hannahversary?

There are two kinds of comeback preparations. The normal kind is where fans clear their schedule, charge the lightsticks, rehearse lyrics and prepare their vocal chords anticipating all the screaming that’s to come.

And, then there’s the Bangtan kind:
In this case, ARMYs end up accidentally reading advanced psychology at 1:30 AM on a week day, because they managed to catch the title of a book that Yoongi was reading in ‘In the soop’; and now their brain won’t shut up till they finish reading all the reference material they can find on the topic after finishing the book itself!!!

At this point, Boraland is less about “waiting for music” and more like unwittingly getting a literature degree taught by seven asian men with colour coded microphones. If the recent hints, installations, and that suspiciously philosophical ‘What is your love song?’ prompt are anything to go by, we are probably not getting a simple romance era. Nothing is ever that simple in Boraland. We are getting a thinking about love era. Which means the only logical to prepare for the upcoming album drop is… reading.

I am comparatively new to the fandom & as such I haven’t caught up with ALL the BTS content that is out there. But, the lovely lady at Asian Entertainment & Culture has made this informative video on Youtube with the 3 books that she thinks may have their influence on ARIRANG.


1) Jung’s Map of the Soul by Murray Stein

2) Into the Magic Shop by Dr. James R. Doty

3) Demian by Hermann Hesse

4) The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

5) Pied Piper of Hamelin

6) Almond by Sohn Won-Pyung

7) The Owl Service by Alan Garner


8 & 9) Kafka on the Shore & 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

India is set to get jazzed up once again as Teamwork Arts, a leading force in India’s performing arts ecosystem, announces the 9th edition of the Jazz India Circuit, scheduled to tour Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi from 4th to 8th February 2026.

A flagship platform for contemporary and cutting-edge jazz, the Jazz India Circuit 2026 brings together world-renowned international artists and boundary-pushing collaborations, reaffirming its position as one of India’s most exciting live music properties.

A Power-Packed Line-Up for 2026

Standing in a crowd, surrounded by thousands of strangers who all seemed far more prepared for this moment than I was. Waiting for Coldplay to walk on stage and give me an evening to remember forever - either as a high point experience wise or a moment I would remember as lesson to never overestimate myself. I remember thinking, briefly, that I could still leave. That I could turn this into another almost-story.

I didn’t leave.

Mumbai, the crowd, and the part of me that wanted to flee

The truth is, I wasn’t scared of missing out on the concert. I was extremely scared of experiencing it. The crowd. The noise. The lights. The sheer scale of it all. Every possible trigger for sensory overload packed neatly into one evening. This is usually the point where I tell myself I’m “not built for these things” and retreat into safer, quieter pleasures. Headphones. Controlled volume. Familiar rooms. Predictable exits.

I had trained for this for months. Even before Coldplay ever announced their India dates, I was convinced they would come and that I needed to be prepared for it. And when I say I trained for months, I actually trained myself for the sensory overload that a concert could be in the best way I knew how. I started by taking public transport again. First during low rush periods with headphones on. First, sitting at the back of the auto where you are forced to close quarters with strangers and sit touching each other. Then to public buses and metros where it was more than two people at a time. Then slowly moving onto rush hours - still with headphones on (same song on repeat to have something to ground me). And then slowly travelling in public transportation during rush hours without headphones for short journeys, that became longer and longer.

Most of you reading this, will probably be wondering that these are all everyday common things that people do on a daily basis. Why would I consider this as ‘training for a concert’. Well, I have always been hypersensitive to stimuli. Exposure to bright lights (or the sun) for an hour or so is enough to give me a freaking headache that won’t go away for the rest of the day. Same for loud noises or crowds. Putting all 3 together is a disaster for me. And my nervous system had been at it’s worst back in 2020-21. So, it had been a uphill task.

I kept waiting for my threshold to snap. For the lights to become too sharp, the bass too heavy, the crowd too close. I kept bracing for the moment when enjoyment would tip into overwhelm and I’d have to negotiate with myself to stay. That moment didn’t arrive the way I expected it to.

When Coldplay finally came on stage, the crowd went mad, and something in me did the opposite of panic. My brain, usually so eager to narrate every experience into submission, went quiet. The noise stopped being noise. It became atmosphere. The lights stopped being intrusive. They became part of the story unfolding around me.

That surprised me more than anything else that night.

Maybe it was the music. I didn’t stop being sensitive. I stopped being afraid of my sensitivity.

And for someone who has spent years managing input like a negotiation in old Delhi bazaar, that felt like a small miracle disguised as a concert.

In the crowd, I realized I already knew these songs with my body. A song from a phase when I was hopeful. Another from a phase when I was just trying to get through the day. A chorus that once meant comfort, now sounding like reassurance. People say that is art. For me, only music has a way of doing that.

When the first familiar notes hit, it wasn’t excitement that took over. It was a quiet feeling of ‘I am okay.’ That might be what surprised me most. Not the scale. Not the spectacle. But how safe it felt to be small inside something so large. To let the music carry the weight instead of me having to hold it all together. Trust that I wouldn’t lose myself if I let go just a little.

The moment it stopped being theoretical

I had prepared for everything I could name. The crowd. The lights. The noise. The exits. I had rehearsed coping strategies like a responsible adult who knows their limits. What I hadn’t prepared for was the way the music would arrive through my body.

I had standing tickets. Which meant there was no polite distance between me and the sound. No buffer. No chair to anchor myself to. When the beat dropped, I didn’t just hear it. I felt it. Under my feet first. A steady, physical vibration traveling up through the ground, through my legs, into my chest. 

That was the moment the fear loosened its grip. I feel that one feeling is still very impossible to intellectualize or express. 

The music wasn’t something happening to me. It was something happening with me. Around me. Beneath me. I wasn’t overstimulated. I felt connected to it. The same sensitivity I had been bracing against was suddenly doing something else entirely. It was receiving.

And then they performed Viva La Vida.

I don’t know how close I was to the stage in measurable terms. Close enough that I felt I could probably reach out and touch the band members. The song stopped being a memory and became a shared pulse. The crowd surged, the lights flared, and thousands of voices rose at once, singing about fallen kings and borrowed power and the strange humility of survival.

I didn’t think about meaning. I just stood there, vibrating along with the ground, letting the song exist without interpretation. There was something so grounding about that. Feeling small without feeling erased. Feeling part of something without having to perform belonging.

And for a first concert, that felt like enough.

After the Lights, After the Noise

The concert didn’t end the way stories like to end. There was no freeze-frame moment, no neat emotional crescendo that carried me home on a high. It ended the way real things end. Slowly. With people drifting away, voices hoarse, bodies tired, adrenaline leaking out in uneven waves.

Mumbai was still Mumbai when we stepped back into it. Traffic resumed its arguments. Vendors kept shouting. Life refused to pause to acknowledge that something extraordinary had just happened to me. I liked that. There was comfort in the normalcy of it. As if the city was saying, you felt something big, good for you, now come back and live.

What surprised me was how my body remembered the night long after the sound had faded. The vibration didn’t vanish immediately. Even a year later, I can still feel it in my heart and in my feet. 

I walked away knowing this wasn’t just about a band or a song or even a first concert checked off a list. It was proof that sometimes the thing you’re most afraid of teaches your nervous system a new language.

The Life of a Showgirl might be a LOT of things, but the life of a swiftie is never dull.

As a Bengali, I was already in a festive mood with Durga Puja shenanigans right before the album release. But I would not deny the fact that I was more excited for the album than I was for Durga Puja this year.

First of all, when the tracks were declared and the fifth track of the album stared at me, I could almost hear it say, “It’s me. Hi! I’m the problem, it’s me.”

Taylor Swift admitted to placing her most “vulnerable, personal, honest, emotional” song as Track 5 on her albums in 2019 when the fans spotted that pattern. Of course, I was eagerly waiting to be wrecked by a song. Again.

In India, the album was released at 9:30 in the morning and I only got out of bed after listening to all the songs. With TLOAS being the shortest TS album till date, it took me just an hour to go through them all (yes, I might’ve listened to a few of them multiple times). I loved some songs immediately and others might’ve taken some time to gel with. After that 31-songs double album which was heavier than expected, I was relieved that The Life of a Showgirl is full of upbeat and lighter songs (except maybe two).

Taylor Swift’s NEW album is here, you folks!

THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL!

I mean, if you haven’t watched the 2-hour podcast episode yet, please find some time and watch it. The world embraced the sparkly orange, and only TS had the guts to do it when people in her country are already suffering under an orange power.

By the way, you probably know that Taylor Swift is often “accused” of writing songs about breakups. Yes, it feels like accusations the way the media portrays her music. The intent is always to demean her work because she mostly writes about love and breakups. Despite love being one of the most talked-about emotions, despite every other musician singing or writing about the same thing, it suddenly becomes unacceptable or too frivolous when it’s Taylor Swift?

Make that make sense, folks!

But hey, did you know TS wrote about other things as well?

If not, keep scrolling. We’re here to talk about thirteen (yes, 13) songs by Taylor Swift that are NOT about falling in love or breakups.

1.     1. Marjorie (Album: evermore)
Marjorie is the name of Taylor’s grandmother. She lost her when she was really young. She lost her when she was not in the same town. In an interview clip, Taylor mentions that she regrets not being around her when it happened. She regrets not knowing her and all of those emotions are poured into this song. It’s a deeply emotional song about her grandmother and how she still feels her and how she would’ve loved to spend more time with her and get to know her. Somehow, she even managed to find her grandmother’s opera vocals and put them in this song and that segment never fails to give me goosebumps.

My favourite lines: “Never be so kind that you forget to be clever, never be so clever that you forget to be kind.”

2.      2. this is me trying (Album: folklore)
In her Long Pond Studio Sessions, Taylor Swift talks to Jack Antonoff (they write songs together) about this song. They talk about how people with addiction and mental health illnesses are always in an active fight in their daily lives. The song depicts how the act of trying is almost a battle. Moreover, the song also talks about how someone who feels like they’ve lost it in life despite having so much potential in school years or earlier years. This song breaks my heart and is one of my most favourite songs of all time by TS.

My favourite lines: “They told me all of my cages were mental
So I got wasted like all my potential
And my words shoot to kill when I'm mad
I have a lot of regrets about that…”

3.      3. I Hate it Here (Album: The Tortured Poets Department)
If you have ever felt that you don’t really belong to this world and that you almost always want to escape into daydreams or in a world of imagination (like binge-reading or watching something), this song is the one for you. TS writes about being trapped in a body or a world where they cannot be what they really are and thus, need to escape to a different world. This is a song that will appeal to the introverts and hypersensitive people who are probably the more adversely affected lot due to the harshness of this world.

My favourite lines: “I'm lonely but I'm good
I'm bitter but I swear I'm fine
I'll save all my romanticism for my inner life
and I'll get lost on purpose
This place made me feel worthless...”

4.      4. Mean (Album: Speak Now)
One thing that Taylor Swift does best is turn her experiences into these superb songs that you can even dance to. In a few interview, she explains that she wrote this song ‘Mean’ about the critics who wrote about her albums by not giving any constructive criticism but just being mean. She was thinking about this powerless feeling of being at the receiving end of such mean comments from people no matter how hard she works. And then the song also gives an upbeat melody and lyrics that can fill you with hope about how all these mean comments will not affect her one day when she’s made it big.

My favourite lines: “Someday... I'll be living in a big old city
and all you're ever gonna be is mean
Someday I'll be big enough so you can't hit me
and all you're ever gonna be is mean.”

5.      5. 22 (Album: Red)
This song is so full of young energy. Although the title of the song very specifically is about the age “22”, what I feel from watching the music video is that TS wrote and sang how it feels to be in her early to mid-twenties, having a lot of fun and just enjoying life when you start to enter this new phase of life when you’re free from studies and have started earning. For some of us, this might even be the late twenties. Also, she’s surrounded by her female friends in this music video and even the lyrics is about how they’re taking a break from everything and just feeling young. In an interview, she mentions that she wanted to write how she was feeling while spending her summer with her friends.

My favourite lines: “We're happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time,
It's miserable and magical.”

6.      6. You Need to Calm Down (Album: Lover)
Here’s something for all the haters. Taylor Swift gets a lot of negative attention on the internet despite having a huge following of Swifties who are hardcore protectors of her. Although, TS have stayed away from engaging with politics or mixing it with her music for a long time… this is probably one of the times we see her touching upon issues she feels strongly about. Apart from being a response to internet trolls and haters, this song hints at her support for the queer community and she also talks about how female celebrities keep getting compared to each other despite each of them having a massive superpower themselves.

My favourite lines: “And we see you over there on the internet
Comparing all the girls who are killing it
But we figured you out
We all know now, we all got crowns
You need to calm down…”

7.      7. Only the Young (from the documentary Miss Americana)
This song, played in the credits of the documentary Miss Americana, is like an anthem. In this documentary, and various other interviews succeeding it, TS expressed how young people get affected the most with all the terrible issues in their country like gun violence, stalking, healthcare, climate change, etc. So, this song was pretty much Taylor openly expressing her political beliefs and also revealing her support against the then President of US, Donald Trump.
My favourite lines: “They aren’t gonna help us
Too busy helping themselves
They aren’t gonna change this
We gotta do it ourselves...”

8.      8. The Man (Album: Lover)
It’s not a new thing that Taylor often gets a lot of headlines for reasons her male contemporaries are left out of the discussions. Drawing from her personal experience as a businesswoman and from the collective experience of being a woman, she wrote this song to represent how the society views men and women in a vastly different lens. Another political number, Taylor Swift smashes the patriarchy with her lyrics in this song and hey, don’t miss this music video (and of course, the BTS of making this video) on her YouTube channel.

My favourite lines: “I'm so sick of running as fast as I can
Wondering if I'd get there quicker if I was a man.”

9.      9. mad woman (Album: folklore)
Now that we’ve talked about how women and men are treated differently just because of the gender, let’s talk about this freakishly beautiful song that is all about how women have been labelled as “mad” left, right, and centre for ridiculous reasons. One of my most favourite songs, this carries the rage of all the women who have been called either angry or insane. Just go and tell me, if it doesn’t chill your bones.

My favourite lines: “And there's nothin' like a mad woman
What a shame she went mad
No one likes a mad woman
You made her like that
And you'll poke that bear 'til her claws come out
And you find something to wrap your noose around
And there's nothin' like a mad woman…”

10. Long Live (Album: Speak Now)
This fantastic song is from one of her earlier albums and the whole meaning of it has evolved ever since she first started performing it. As per Taylor, this song is dedicated to her band and the fans who have been there with her for years, standing by her side, as they scaled the wobbly heights of the music industry. Full of gratitude, this song is one of the best live performances that addresses directly to all the struggles of an artist but at the same time, being grateful for everything she has achieved. While she performs this song during the Eras Tour, it sort of also hinted at how she keeps manifesting the stardom she’s so in fond of.

My favourite lines: “Will you take a moment?
Promise me this
That you'll stand by me forever
But if, God forbid, fate should step in
And force us into a goodbye
If you have children someday
When they point to the pictures
Please tell them my name
Tell them how the crowds went wild
Tell them how I hope they shine...”

11. Anti-Hero (Album: Midnights)
Ever had a bout of self-loathing? Well, this song is going to become your shadow then. Taylor explains in an Instagram post how we all have things we hate about ourselves. And this one particularly caters to that extremely unsettling and yet comfortable feeling most of us might have experienced.
My favourite lines: “It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me
At tea time, everybody agrees
I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror
It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero.”

12. I Did Something Bad (Album: reputation)
The entire album of reputation has a huge lore behind it. In short, Taylor Swift received a lot of hate from the media in the years before this album for a lot of reasons. She disappeared from everywhere for a year. Came back with this banger of an album where each and every song is fueled by rage, frustration, and it shows how Taylor embraces whatever is thrown at her and turns it into the best possible songs. I Did Something Bad, if lyrics are decoded, refers to events in her life that aren’t so pleasant and where she’s painted as a villain for standing up for herself. Moreover, it is also speculated that quite a few songs on this album have references to the popular show on HBO, “A Game of Thrones”. This song is apparently about the Stark sisters, Sansa and Arya, plotting the death of Littlefinger. Oops, sorry about the spoiler if you haven’t watched the show yet.

My favourite lines: “This is how the world works
You gotta leave before you get left…”

13. Mastermind (Album: Midnights)
You know what’s the best thing about Taylor Swift? If you listen to a song enough number of times and really listen to the lyrics and know the entire lore, you’ll probably end up finding references to love and breakups in most of her songs. And yet, the song might be about something completely different. Like, this one – Mastermind. It might seem like she’s talking about a guy but this song is more about how she’s demeaned on the internet for being a strategist… a calculative planner who loves doing all of it so much. In an interview, she also ends up saying that she was inspired for this song by a movie she was watching. I don’t remember which movie she was referring to. But even if you look at how she planned her Eras Tour and all of her Easter Eggs for her fans, she lives up to this image of being a Mastermind and how!

My favourite lines: “No one wanted to play with me as a little kid
So I've been scheming like a criminal ever since
To make them love me and make it seem effortless
This is the first time I've felt the need to confess…”

So, there you go! And be assured that there are more songs by Taylor which are not about love or breakups. But hey, this list had to have 13. *wink wink*

Tell me now, which is your favourite Taylor Swift song that has nothing to do with a love story or a break-up?