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I think she shouldnt be popular, and I guess it's because of marketing. The media companies put her in the spot light a lot, and people got used to her music I guess.
It's not like with Michael Jackson or Madonna where the music were actually very good and creative. This is like pizza I guess, something to listen to that sounds the same as everything else.
She may not be your cup of tea, which is totally fine. No music is for everyone. But to say her music is not creative or good like Michael Jackson and Madonna is silly. It definitely reveals an unfamiliarity with her catalog. While I like Madonna, she has not competently covered as much ground as Taylor Swift has been able to.
I used to not really like Taylor Swift until I actually sat down and gave her music a real listen, then I got what all the hubbub was about. She has a lot of albums for her age, and there's relatively little filler on them (some have none in my opinion).
I admit I haven't listed her very much. I will give it another try. What album should I start with?
It really depends on your taste. If you enjoy pop, 1989 is a good entree. If you enjoy moodier stuff, folklore is not a bad choice. If you enjoy country, try Fearless. You could also just sample some hits and, when you find one that's ok, try the album it's on. If you really want to run the gamut, going in chronological order is a good way to see the evolution of her sound and songwriting. The Taylor's Version albums are worth listening to instead of the originals, though you can skip the bonus tracks if you're not a huge fan.
That being said, you could justifiably come out on the other side still not liking her stuff. But I hope you'd at least have an appreciation for the artistry.
Ok I listened to 1989. A few songs were actually good. Catchy, great for car.
Ok she isn't as awful as I though. Thank you.
i love this lol r/characterarcs 🫶
She makes music that a lot of people really like. Often times because they relate. It sounds like it’s not your kind of music, and that’s fine. Not really any more to it.
That doesn't explain all of the awards. And it's not just a lot of people, it's often a historical amount of people right?
That many people and that many awards just because she has the same formula every other pop star has?
She’s really good at making pop music. Just because it doesn’t appeal to you doesn’t mean she’s not good.
My friend Alex is really into metal music. Like, it’s all he listens to. Every once in a while I’ll listen to some of his songs, and they all sound the same to me. The stuff he says is awful sounds the same to me as the stuff he says is incredible. That doesn’t mean there’s no variation in metal or that it’s all just formulaic, and it doesn’t mean that bands can’t be really good at making and playing metal music, it just means I can’t tell when they are, cause it’s not my kind of music.
It appears to be the same for you and pop music. It all sounds the same to you because it’s not your kind of music.
Wow! Those are pretty virulent, unsubstantiated assumptions.
I like pop music, hence my curiosity.
The reason I prefaced my statement with “it appears” is precisely because I didn’t want to assume.
A velvet glove on an iron fist.
I suggest speaking and theorizing based on your personal experience rather than the positions you assume others take.
Ok, so take this same disdain that you have for other people assuming your thoughts and feelings, and apply it to your own views on Taylor Swift’s fans. Just like you, they have their own thoughts and feelings, and unlike you, they don’t find her music unremarkable.
You could ask this question about any popular artist for the last 70 years, probably longer, why The Beatles, why Elvis Presley, why Michael Jackson, why Madonna?
Hype mainly.
Because she's not only good at producing the right music, she's good at business and has the right connections to launch them.
Thanks, I'm very curious about this. What are some salient examples of her business prowess?
Think of a dish made by a world class chef, that food is probably exquisitely crafted using unique and fresh ingredients. There probably aren't that many people out there who truly appreciate it, and probably a lot who just think it's weird.
Now think of pizza. It's relatively cheap and broadly appealing. It wouldn't be put in the same class as the food prepared by the chef, but a lot more of it gets consumed.
Taylor Swift is talented, pretty, affable, has a superior work ethic, and makes music that's catchy and easily digestible. Like pizza, her music appeals to the broadest group of people.
I like this explanation, but I feel like there are plenty of other artists who fit into that category.
Is it just random that they had to pick one brand of pizza to go crazy over do you think?
Why did so many 12- year- olds buy Batman T-shirts in 1989? Other T-shirts were surely available?
Sure, but the batman shirts didn't win dozens of awards and generate the GDP of several countries
Whoosh
Taylor for me is extremely emotional and autobiographical. I connect emotionally with her songs in a way that allows me to feel what she's feeling. Music is emotional and usually has a message, but for me her music does make me feel more.
Which makes sense, I always loved pink Floyd for their art and what they were trying to say, I usually am an emotional person, and I think for a lot of people that's why she's popular.
You have an emotion you're working through? She's got a song for it.
I don't think a more wildly different artist to TS could be found than Pink Floyd. Things they have in common: are human. Trolling or what?
Lol nope, I'm a fan of both. People don't need to be put in buckets where they only like something's and not others.
I've seen Roger Waters twice, watched him build the wall on stage and send out the inflatables, and it kicked ass.
Also saw Eras last year in person, and it was the most precise well thought out concert I've seen.
No rules in life saying you can't like both
Are you a woman that’s went through a lot of break ups? I’m assuming no otherwise you’d already know the answer.
great marketing
Peak reddi .. I mean lemmy.
-3500. Making more progress!
Imagine stalking someone on the Internet because you don't like their opinions 🤣
Right noticing some douche keeps reappearing who has -3500 karma -- definitely StAlKiNg
Wait, you can see user karma on Lemmy? When I click on a profile it doesn't appear anywhere. It must be invisible to me since I'm just using the website.
Your just keep on showing up in my comments 🤷♂️
I just wanna cheer you on. -4000 here we go!!
-Very skilled songwriter. I don't necessarily like all her stuff but I legitimately think she's the best songwriter (meaning, composing music and writing lyrics) of her generation. Probably since Bruce Springsteen or Billy Joel.
-Very attractive and a good performer
-Well connected in the music industry let her get an early start/inside track
-obsessed with being popular. I don't mean that in a negative way, but her primary objective with her music is to please as many people as possible. I think the documentary "Miss Americana" on Netflix explains that very well-at one point she straight up says "I just want people to like me" or something like that. That means her music/career has always focused on mass appeal as opposed to making more... limited-appeal music like most artists do at some point in their career
-she's kept a remarkably clean image even through being famous for close to two decades. It's very telling that the worst thing her haters can say about her is "but her plane uses a lot of carbon!" This means parents let kids listen to her, brands love her as a sponsor, nobody boycotts her, etc.
-one last thing, I think people love her songs because they feel like they're true. Her songs have a very intimate, almost confessional quality that a lot of artists strive for buy often comes off as fake.
She's just lately a decent songwriter. For most of her career, her songs were written for her by the heavy hitters behind virtually every top 100 hit. Her producer/mixer/writer Jack Antonoff still does most of the heavy lifting.
I am tired of seeing the sentiment that she's some brilliant songwriter--she really only kind of plays the guitar. The reality is that if anyone is made to be a billionaire, and work with one of the best musical minds of our time (Antonoff), and collaborate with the other top song writers/ghost writers, of course, a decade later, they'll be able to write songs. It was never some innate talent of hers, or else the songs she truly did write early in her career would have been the hits, instead of the mutually agreed upon worst on the album.
The American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has written or co-written every song in her discography, with the exception of several cover songs and two guest features, alongside some songs released by other artists
Source?
Co-writing means nothing at the mega-pop industry level, and starts having little meaning far before that. But, if you are genuinely under the impression that it has meaning, I have a bridge to sell you.
The source for my claims of brilliant songwriters writing her entire early career is visible in Genius for everything pre-Lover.
i am sick and tired of this misogynistic bile. i do not write this comment for your sake commenter, but for the sake of anyone who might be swayed by your bullshit rhetoric.
let’s break this down:
“sHe ReAlLy only PlAys ThE GUitaR” you can’t even get that factoid right. Taylor Swift plays at least four instruments.
“she doesn’t write her songs herself and the ones she does write are mutually agreed to be the worst”—
outright false:
Many critics selected "Dear John" [on which Swift is credited as the sole songwriter] as Speak Now's best song for its production and emotional impact. Such critics include Jon Caramanica in The New York Times (lauding the blues production for expanding beyond Swift's country-music comfort zone),[15] Mikael Wood in Spin (saying it was "epic pop-country poetry"),[17] and Willman in The Hollywood Reporter (underscoring the "chills-inducing climax"). wikipedia
too late for you? Our Song (2006, written solely by Swift) was one of the "Award-Winning Songs" at the 2008 BMI Country Awards, which honors the year's best songwriters.[35] It featured on Rolling Stone's 2019 list of the best female country songs from 2000.[36]
“Jack Antonoff does the heavy lifting” Antonoff is a FUCKING incredible artist and I do not deny that, but who sings the songs with a critically acclaimed voice? who performs the music live to meticulous, hours-long choreography? spoiler: not Antonoff, buddy! you might be shocked to hear it was a woman.
Next time you want to just lie on the internet maybe ar least try to find some supporting evidence instead of making empty assertions like a freshman in high school. Like damn. 🗿
By early in her career do you mean when she was like 18? I'm not saying she hasn't had a lot of help. But I disagree with the idea that she's just a figurehead. She is listed as a writer for pretty much all her songs, and you can usually tell a Taylor Swift song just by the sound/lyrics, which isnt something i can say for a lot of pop artists. If it was Antonoff the whole time then Bleachers would be more popular (relative to Swift).
No, she really only started to write with "Lover". Prior to that, it was Antonoff, and prior to that it was a lot of different writers/ghost writers.
I also don't think she's just a figure head. I appreciate everything she's done to get artists paid more, I think she's a good role model for girls/women, etc. But, I do not think she's a talented song writer. She's not a multi-instrumentalist. And, she is a billionaire, hoarding wealth like all the others.
