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does anyone listen to Taylor Swift? tell me what the draw is
- Thread starter TonyJZX
- Start date
Why, because you imagine she's the one that decided to display it there?Taylor Swift London Tube map:
Discovered this morning that there is one displayed on the wall at Wembley Park underground station.
With a proper one next to it so you can actually find where you want to go, of course?
No.
That did not endear me to her.
Recently I made a discovery that surprised me. I occasionally hear Swift's music on one of the SXM channels I listen to, and sometimes I think her style sounds familiar to me. But I've never been able to figure out why. A couple of weeks ago I found the answer.
One Swift's habits I don't care for is she sometimes stretches out some vowels when she's singing, modulating them too. I find this practice annoying.
One of my favorite singer-songwriters is Vonda Shepard. Has been for a couple of decades, since I saw her scenes from the old television show Ally McBeal. Shepard played the singer in a piano bar. I only rarely watched television back then, but I was stuck alone overnight in a hotel in early 1999 when changing jobs, and flipped channels on the television out of boredom. By chance I caught the closing bar scene from the show I saw, every episode appears to have one, and was instantly attracted to Shepard's renditions of 50s-60s pop music. I've been a fan ever since, and enjoy many of her own compositions.
On one of Shepard's albums I was listening to a few weeks ago, the album was released in 2013, I heard her singing a song, and I thought, wow, she sounds a lot like Taylor Swift, which made no sense. In 2013 Swift was a kid. A couple of days later I heard a Swift song again on SXM, and when I got home I played the 2013 Shepard album again, and thought it can't be a coincidence. So I did a simple internet search: "Swift Shepard". This was high in the search results:
It turns out that at 11 years old Swift did a cover of Shepard's hit "Baby Don't You Break My Heart Slow". So, apparently, one of my favorite singers was one of Swift's earliest influences. Unfortunately, Swift picked up the only habit from Shepard I occasionally don't like, and made it central to her style.
One Swift's habits I don't care for is she sometimes stretches out some vowels when she's singing, modulating them too. I find this practice annoying.
One of my favorite singer-songwriters is Vonda Shepard. Has been for a couple of decades, since I saw her scenes from the old television show Ally McBeal. Shepard played the singer in a piano bar. I only rarely watched television back then, but I was stuck alone overnight in a hotel in early 1999 when changing jobs, and flipped channels on the television out of boredom. By chance I caught the closing bar scene from the show I saw, every episode appears to have one, and was instantly attracted to Shepard's renditions of 50s-60s pop music. I've been a fan ever since, and enjoy many of her own compositions.
On one of Shepard's albums I was listening to a few weeks ago, the album was released in 2013, I heard her singing a song, and I thought, wow, she sounds a lot like Taylor Swift, which made no sense. In 2013 Swift was a kid. A couple of days later I heard a Swift song again on SXM, and when I got home I played the 2013 Shepard album again, and thought it can't be a coincidence. So I did a simple internet search: "Swift Shepard". This was high in the search results:
It turns out that at 11 years old Swift did a cover of Shepard's hit "Baby Don't You Break My Heart Slow". So, apparently, one of my favorite singers was one of Swift's earliest influences. Unfortunately, Swift picked up the only habit from Shepard I occasionally don't like, and made it central to her style.
No, it was just a joke.
I have one of her albums "Folklore" on a long playlist. every now and then one of her songs comes on, and I find that I like it.
I wouldn't say she likes country, she used it and it's young female fans as a entry point to the music business.
As a country fan I was very unhappy with the way her popularity influence was taking country for a while.
Once her name started to gain a wide recognition she dropped doing country and moved on to teen pop as fast
as she could.
Yes you are probably right, your messages are always interesting.
And a friend has all his CDs because a chain of stores here had promotions if you bought 10, he absolutely wanted some death metal stuff and to complete he took this because he likes pretty girls.
He listened to the first ones because he always proceeds in chronological order and he was delighted because it is country.
He is a huge Johnny Cash fan, he has all his albums on vinyl/CD and like me Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard etc.
I generally love this music because it is that of the people.
And a friend has all his CDs because a chain of stores here had promotions if you bought 10, he absolutely wanted some death metal stuff and to complete he took this because he likes pretty girls.
He listened to the first ones because he always proceeds in chronological order and he was delighted because it is country.
He is a huge Johnny Cash fan, he has all his albums on vinyl/CD and like me Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard etc.
I generally love this music because it is that of the people.
Vacceo
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I personally think there is no such genre as "pop" by itself. Pop canibalizes any style and turns It mainstream and nice to listen to non-native audiences.
In the case of Taylor Swift, she probably playes music that to some extent, takes elements from country. The difference is that for actual country listeners like you, Sal, it is so watered down that the characteristics you enjoy from the genre feel absent.
I have experienced that a million times in Death and Black Metal, which are equally niche and have the same issues once artists "evolve".
Now your talking the GODs of country music. I was lucky enough to see Merle live twice back in the 70-80, what an incredible artist.
You got it, POP, that's the elevator music of rock. Nothing in it to upset anyone's sensibilities. LOL
Never heard a single fittel or steel getar in any of Taylor's "country" tunes.
Yorkshire Mouth
Major Contributor
I’m the same. Don’t get me wrong, I can see why she’s popular, a few nice tunes, etc.
But I just don’t get the sheer scale of her success.
Clearly she somehow speaks to an underlying need that many millions of people around the world feel. Maybe she just makes people feel happy in a world where that is in such short supply.
Doesn't hurt her that she is gorgeous I imagine.
Doesn't hurt her that she is gorgeous I imagine.
You know you're old when you use the term "elevator music". People under 40 have probably never heard elevator music, and don't know what you're talking about. I use the term occasionally to describe "smooth jazz", and when I do I find millennials look at me like I'm weird.
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Not a fan of most of her music, but the 1989 album was a bona-fide masterpiece. Her lyrical efficiency (genius even), especially on tracks like 'Style' are next level, evoking dense and layered meaning with incredibly simple turns of phrase. /And I got that good girl faith and a tight little skirt/ is a great example. As someone who is a creative writing / prose afficionado this is something extremely hard to do, and she makes it look easy.
Eric Natural
Active Member
It's clear that men don't get it; what it is about TS that's appealing to women.
She speaks to / for women
She speaks to / for women
Yes to her songwriting abilities. People often seem to imply that pop music is so easy to make. They couldn't be more wrong. Writing something that is popular means it was good and that is not easy to do. For all those who criticize her music I say write something better and substantive, then start throwing shade around.
Marc v E
Major Contributor
It sounds like overcooked pasta with lots of cheese mixed into it tastes.
Some people like that...
Some people like that...
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