I debated as to whether to keep this one under wraps, but I’m gonna put it out there: I’ve fallen for Taylor Swift‘s “Love Story.” Perhaps it’s akin to those old Frosted Mini-Wheats commercials, with her sugar-coated fairy tale appealing to the 12-year-old girl in me. On second thought, maybe that analogy isn’t the best, considering the gender flip from adult to kid involved.

Swift’s “Love Story” is a simplistic re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet. Here, Juliet’s daddy initially disapproves of the pairing but eventually comes around, allowing the once secretive R&J to skip Shakespeare’s downer of a denouement and hightail it to the altar instead. Of course, it’s unlikely that country music would have embraced a teen double-death tragedy in song, and certainly not when a nineteen-year old herself is doing the singing.

While Swift took some dramatic license in writing the song (even mixing in an odd reference to The Scarlet Letter), her original recording of “Love Story” was itself re-imagined to play better on pop stations. Goodbye, banjo, hello, electric guitars and drum loop! The chorus is a keeper in any genre, but I’m rarely one for country, so this remixed take is what I’ve been turning up whenever it comes on the radio:

Swift’s original “Love Story” reached #4 the Billboard Hot 100 in early January, but she continues to celebrate success of the de-countrified mix. After reaching #1 on Mainstream Top 40 chart back in February (a country-crossover first), this week Swift follows in the footsteps of Rascal Flatts, Le Ann Womack, Faith Hill, and Shania Twain, grabbing the brass ring on the Adult Contemporary chart with her former Country #1. Such a feat means there’s gotta be a lot of women in their 30s and 40s loving “Love Story” alongside 12-year-old girls.

Discovering that there are also official dance mixes of “Love Story,” another side of me is pretty happy, too. (We’ll peg that one as a 26-year-old club-going gay guy.) Listen here, here, and here.

Purchase Taylor Swift – “Love Story” (Pop Version) via iTunes.