does anyone listen to Taylor Swift? tell me what the draw is

[Axo1989]

... I mean I've listened to Folklore and Evermore so their's sufficient algorithmic trigger ...

gah, there's is surely what I meant to type

 

[DMill]

I watched her Eras tour on HBO last night. The choreography and stage production is beyond anything I’ve ever seen live. The music played through my 2.1 system sounded very good. As far as Taylor goes, Im trying to keep an open mind. She doesn’t really speak to me, but I’m really not her audience of XXmillions of people. One thing I noticed is the band is buried beneath the production and it feels like a Broadway play with Taylor as the lead. I’d like to see her just jam out with a group of musicians.

 

[Ze Frog]

Lol, I rarely do any modern, especially mainstream music as it's all horrendous. I have younger sons and they predominantly prefer older music as they can't bare it either. Youngest is 9, he's really into 70's and 80's of which he may have been influenced by my music to some degree. My eldest, well he's 14 and really into WW2 and 40's and 50's, which is pretty amazing as wasn't really anything he was exposed to growing up, lol, in fact he actually got me listening to stuff I would never have thought about.

 

[Newman]

This article, published today, provides an interesting analysis of “Taylor Swift’s Secret Musical Weapon”.

The article looks at chord progressions that are most popular in pop music, and how their use creates a comfortable expectation of how the song goes, and listeners can relax and focus on the lyrics and the musical embellishments around the comforting chord sequence.

From the article, it is actually amazing how much pop music uses the same basic chord progressions (and Blues is even more universal). There is one YouTube clip of a comedy act Axis of Awesome playing the Axis Chord Progression (yes, named after them) for four minutes and covering 38 pop hits that revolve around it:-

1. Journey - Don't Stop Believing
2. James Blunt - You're Beautiful
3. Alphaville - Forever Young
4. Jason Mraz - I'm Yours
5. Mika - Happy Ending
6. Alex Lloyd - Amazing
7. The Calling - Wherever You WIll Go
8. Elton John - Can You Feel The Love Tonight
9. Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved
10. The Last Goodnight - Pictures Of You
11. U2 - With Or Without You
12. Crowded House - Fall At Your Feet
13. Kasey Chambers - Not Pretty Enough
14. The Beatles - Let it Be
15. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
16. Daryl Braithwaite - The Horses
17. Bob Marley - No Woman No Cry
18. Marcy Playground - Sex and Candy
19. Men At Work - Land Down Under
20. Banjo Patterson's Waltzing Matilda
21. A Ha - Take On Me
22. Green Day - When I Come Around
23. Eagle Eye Cherry - Save Tonight
24. Toto - Africa
25. Beyonce - If I Were A Boy
26. The Offspring - Self Esteem
27. The Offspring - You're Gonna Go Far Kid
28. Pink - You and Your Hand
29. Lady Gaga - Poker Face
30. Aqua - Barbie Girl
31. The Fray - You Found Me
32. 30h!3 - Don't Trust Me
33. MGMT - Kids
34. Tim Minchin - Canvas Bags
35. Natalie Imbruglia - Torn
36. Five For Fighting - Superman
37. Axis Of Awesome - Birdplane
38. Missy Higgins - Scar

cheers

 

[Axo1989]

Given that Tay Tay has released around 280 songs, the observation that almost 40 (~15%) use a particular and somewhat ubiquitous chord progression (which apparently peaked in popularity circa 2010 and has been on a bit of a slide since) is hardly a secret weapon, or a guarantee of stratospheric success over ten years later. Said chords (or other popular progressions) don't determine style, or content, or sonic texture, or rhythm, or pace but do influence mood. Divining that Swift's songs are musically comfortable for the most part, and sufficiently sonically simple to avoid obscuring lyrical delivery isn't breaking new analytical ground.

Edit: interesting how oddball Australian comedy acts like Axis go over well in the UK.

 

[Svet Angelov]

 

[CapMan]

I’m trying the new album - my first TS experience. It’s pleasant enough, but instantly forgettable. Ok as inoffensive dinner party background music IMHO, each track seems to merge into the next.

If if was paint it would be magnolia - and let’s face it a lot of magnolia paint has also been sold, doesn’t make it a memorable colour

1 billion downloads - not sure I get that …