Throughout the first few months of 2021, there has been a lot of major news. Whether it be new album releases, TikTok scandals, or honest clothing try-on hauls, 2021 has solidified some of my strong opinions and even created some new ones. I’ve always been a fan of unpopular opinions. I think they spark great conversations and can really help you get to know someone else. Whether or not you agree is the big question, so I thought I’d take one for the team and expose my opinions on some assorted topics. I compiled a list of common and uncommon “unpopular opinions” and I’ve decided to share whether or not I agree with them. All I ask is that you can forgive me after reading this, it might be a bumpy ride. 

To start I collected some opinions involving the media and entertainment business. These could be about celebrities, music, movies, or TV shows. (*Fair Warning to all the die-hard Swifties out there, you might want to skip number one, for both of our sakes*)

Taylor Swift is one of the most talented musical artists of our time: Disagree. 

Listen, I won’t deny that Taylor Swift has definitely made a name for herself. She is extremely popular, and has a very supportive fanbase. I also won’t deny that she has released some absolute bangers. But, I also think she is incredibly overrated. She has a nice voice, but I’ve heard countless better singers than her. I know people in this school that can outsing her. Her lyrics aren’t terrible, but most of the time it sounds like something you would find inside of a 7th grade girl’s diary from 2015. Her album folklore was also a huge disappointment. I love Bon Iver as well as indie/folk music, but I listened to one song and her voice made me instantly turn it off. Now that the worst is over, I’ll move onto the next opinion.

Toby Maguire was the best Spiderman: Disagree. 

Spiderman has been my favorite superhero since elementary school, so I grew up with all three of the Spidermen. This is what I’ll say about Toby Maguire: he is the original Spiderman, so I will give him credit for being the OG. Then we were gifted with Andrew Garfield. Despite being extremely unrealistic because he was way too old, I think he was the best actor out of the three. And the most recent, and definitely most popular, would be Tom Holland. He looks like a high schooler, and he really works that awkward but cute character. Because of how different they are from each other, it feels necessary to rank the three actors. Third place goes to Toby Maguire. While he is the OG, nothing really makes him stand out in comparison to the others. Second place goes to Andrew Garfield. Maybe I’m alone here, but I think he was a wonderful Spiderman. His crying was so good (and sad), and he was very cute and dorky. First place is Tom Holland…duh. He is the most accurate and realistic. His acting is superb as well, and his voice really fits the character. Hopefully you guys don’t hate me too much, as I still gave Tom Holland first. 

The Office isn’t funny: Disagree. 

I could rant for hours about this, but I’ll keep it as short as I can. The Office is funny! Every character has special quirks and common things they do that make you feel like you’re involved in the longest running inside joke. A lot of the mainstream Office jokes and merchandise make a lot of the content seem bland, but to be honest, after hearing the same joke over and over again it always gets less funny. Most of the people I’ve talked to that don’t like The Office have only seen short clips, a couple episodes, or season one (*cough cough I’m talking about you Ryan cough cough*). Another amazing part of the show is that there is more than humor attracting viewers to the show – there are some great character arcs and story lines. Great examples would be Michael and Holly (you thought I’d say Jim and Pam didn’t you?), literally everything about Andy Bernard, and the extremely underrated David Wallace. He literally created a company called Suck It – iconic! I love that the show has a mixture of humor: dry humor, sarcasm, slap-stick, and even stupid little kid humor (which everyone has to admit can be funny at times). My message to all The Office haters is this: if you haven’t seen more than a few episodes, your opinion is inaccurate, but if you have and you still somehow didn’t like it, I don’t know what to say except “News flash: You are not special.” – Stanley Hudson

Starbucks is better than Dunkin: Agree

This one might not be the most shocking, but considering how many people walk into school with Dunkin’ everyday, I figured I might as well talk about it. I will start this off by saying I am not a coffee drinker, and I genuinely do not understand why everyone is so obsessed with the drink. But that’s a whole different unpopular opinion in itself. I have had coffee though from both Starbucks and Dunkin for those weird times when I was craving it, even though I don’t like it. Dunkin’s iced coffee had chocolate syrup caked at the bottom, with literal sugar crystals being sucked up in my straw. I wonder if they realize that sugar won’t melt in an ICED COFFEE right away. My advice to Dunkin is to invest in some simple syrup…or just add some hot water to the sugar and stir. I’ve also had non-coffee drinks from Dunkin and they, too, are always terrible and have unmelted sugar at the bottom of the cup as well. Starbucks, on the other hand, never fails to make amazing drinks. It may be more expensive, but the higher price is worth it to me. I had an iced latte from Starbucks once and it was the first time I’ve ever enjoyed coffee. So despite Starbucks being further away and more accessible, I’m not going to Dunkin. 

Cow print is cute: Disagree

I had to talk about cow print since we do live in Ledyard, otherwise known as “cow town.” I’ve seen this print trending, especially in pants, but I just cannot get on this trend. Everything that’s cow print looks like something someone got in a kids meal from Chick-fil-a. And cow print pants look like a cheap cowboy costume from Spirit Halloween. Some animal prints aren’t terrible; for example, I don’t mind certain types of cheetah print, and very rarely do I see a more muted zebra print, but while I still hate it, nothing is as bad as cow print. Cow print pants, shirts, bags, nails, shoes, whatever. They aren’t cute. This is a trend that will be going away too soon, or at least it should. Fair warning to anyone considering buying a pair of cow print pants: maybe reconsider. 

Evelyn Morrison, Staff Writer

Senior Evelyn Morrison is a staff writer for the 2020-2021 Colonel. She is a member of five choirs in the school, and is president of the senior class. In her free time, she enjoys obsessing over Frozen 2, playing with her cats, and reading the Harry Potter books. When she isn’t talking about how her doppelganger is Rapunzel, she is bragging about how she is a Gryffindor.