This is the first point that needs to be made. She is enjoying herself.

She still includes a banjo. I like that, it’s a wonderful throwback to her musical roots. And I like her lyrics here: Quirky, self-contradicting, clever. The backup singers are sublime,and this song demands them.

Now maybe we forget how young she was when she started. “Tim McGraw” was her first hit song. She was sixteen, and that’s why I still like this high-school song. (And, again great backup singers on the chorus.)

Yeah,, there’s those stupid umbrellas. But the neener-neener of the chorus and the interplay of her solo and the percussive instruments is, well, sparkling (?) So’s the whole lighty-uppy thing. COOL!

I love this song. It wails and does the be-bop thing in the chorus. I like her hat.

She’s not afraid to reach out to some people who are marginalized. Here she is at New York’s Stonewall Club, the scene of the 1969 that pitted the NYPD against the City’s gays. If you’re a fan of Modern Family, note who’s singing with her.

But that doesn’t mean that cops don’t love her, too.

Cynics would say her interaction with others is cultivated, but I think she really likes people. She’s working the audience in this performance of “Love Story,” on Letterman, but at about 2:45, look for her reaction to the little brunette girl. That’s genuine.

And, of course, there’s her cause: Childhood cancer. I think that’s genuine, too.