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

[krabapple]

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.

So?

It just means you are socially unconnected to a vast taste cohort.

Is that so unlikely?

I've never watched (to pick three things at random) a single episode of The Big Bang Theory, nor any 'reality' TV ever, nor do I watch sports except at the end of seasons.
Nor have I listened to any K-pop.
Yet millions and millions are fans of those things too.

 

[Sal1950]

You know you're old when you use the term "elevator music". People under 40 have probably never heard elevator music,

Really, don't they play that "ten thousand strings play ever song ever written" in elevators any more?

It's clear that men don't get it; what it is about TS that's appealing to women.
She speaks to / for women

That's mostly true IME, at least it was when she was on country radio, it was country music for 12 - 14 year old girls.
VERY Glad she took it to the pop crowd. BYE

Taylor can really only take credit for a small portion of her music, much if not most of it is created by others.
Rick Beato did a great video on her music and popularity some time back, it may have been linked here before.

 

[kemmler3D]

Really, don't they play that "ten thousand strings play ever song ever written" in elevators any more?


That's mostly true IME, at least it was when she was on country radio, it was country music for 12 - 14 year old girls.
VERY Glad she took it to the pop crowd. BYE

Taylor can really only take credit for a small portion of her music, much if not most of it is created by others.
Rick Beato did a great video on her music and popularity some time back, it may have been linked here before.

Point of order on Beato's headline here:

It's easy to be "bigger" than the Beatles now. The world population has more than doubled since 1968. You can be less than half as popular as the Beatles ever were, and still be "bigger".

And depending on what metric you use, it's even easier to be "bigger". If you compare Spotify streams to album downloads or even radio plays, it's still quite possible to come out ahead.

If you compare *revenue* but ignore inflation, wow, so many people are bigger than they were!

Add to this that international music distribution is trivially easy compared to how it used to be in the 1960s, and it starts to feel like anyone that isn't bigger than the Beatles is probably some kind of loser...

 

[mhardy6647]

Really, don't they play that "ten thousand strings play ever song ever written" in elevators any more?


That's mostly true IME, at least it was when she was on country radio, it was country music for 12 - 14 year old girls.
VERY Glad she took it to the pop crowd. BYE

Taylor can really only take credit for a small portion of her music, much if not most of it is created by others.
Rick Beato did a great video on her music and popularity some time back, it may have been linked here before.

I am sure she is not bigger than the Beatles in toto -- neither height, weight, girth, or depth.
Than any one individual Beatle -- possibly(?).

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Hate to say it, but Beato has made a trenchant commentary on contemporary pop music which is really just three or four basic song models, with some lyrics slapped on, fronted by suitably attractive, auto-tuned supermodel types. Somehow, record companies have figured out that this low innovation, repetitive pap hits just well enough to capture billions in pop consumer discretionary cash with minimal chance of bombing commercially. And so we get a no-risk, high reward formulaic and profoundly unartistic soundtrack for people to live their lives to.

Have to wonder if the Beatles could even break through today. Probably not.

 

[Multicore]

It's clear that men don't get it; what it is about TS that's appealing to women.
She speaks to / for women

I agree but I think it also has to do with the zeitgeist.

 

[Multicore]

Hate to say it, but Beato

Moving on

 

[A Surfer]

It sounds like overcooked pasta with lots of cheese mixed into it tastes.

Some people like that...

In all fairness, have you personally managed to create music that millions of people love? Music is of course very personal, while I don't particularly like the Beatles, I don't derive any benefit from diriding them either.

 

[A Surfer]

Hate to say it, but Beato has made a trenchant commentary on contemporary pop music which is really just three or four basic song models, with some lyrics slapped on, fronted by suitably attractive, auto-tuned supermodel types. Somehow, record companies have figured out that this low innovation, repetitive pap hits just well enough to capture billions in pop consumer discretionary cash with minimal chance of bombing commercially. And so we get a no-risk, high reward formulaic and profoundly unartistic soundtrack for people to live their lives to.

Have to wonder if the Beatles could even break through today. Probably not.

So do you feel that people today are less musically sophisticated and are just dolts who gobble up whatever they are being told to? Remember when the Beatles were popular? The older generation also thought they were talentless hacks. It seems old people never understand what it is that the younger people see in their musical peers.
I'm 56 pretty damn male and I actually think Taylor Swift has artistic merit. And absolutely, if you're born beautiful why not use? Surely people don't think Taylor Swift is the first attractive artist to play up that strength. She would be a fool not to.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

So do you feel that people today are less musically sophisticated and are just dolts who gobble up whatever they are being told to? Remember when the Beatles were popular? The older generation also thought they were talentless hacks. It seems old people never understand what it is that the younger people see in their musical peers.
I'm 56 pretty damn male and I actually think Taylor Swift has artistic merit. And absolutely, if you're born beautiful why not use? Surely people don't think Taylor Swift is the first attractive artist to play up that strength. She would be a fool not to.

She may be attractive, but she really can't sing. I have no quarrel with her personally, this is in no way a reaction to her politics, or the subject matter of her songs, or the lived experience of young women she attempts to give voice to. I understand and sympathize with all that. It's just she can't sing any better than Selina Gomez. And that same repetitive song base that Beato talks about creates a monotony to her songs. To me it seems like she spits out a stream of lyrics, takes a breath and then spits another stream. Makes her songs seems like vocal concatenations rather than something that moves and progresses form one idea (feeling) to another, and finally to a climax. The way they're vocalized, they don't seem like completed musical compositions to me. Only thing missing is her singing "And another thing..." between each of her phrases.

Look I grew up listening to Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Grace Slick, and Ann Wilson. Does anyone seriously want to suggest Taylor Swift is even one or two leagues removed from those major league vocalists? And yes there are contemporaries that are talented vocalists, so it's not grandpa ragging on "kids today." Whatever her other merits in terms of speaking to and/or voicing the concerns of young women today, she absolutely sucks as a vocalist and her songs are monotonous.

 

[Eric Natural]

.... she absolutely sucks as a vocalist

I'm a trained baritone & this is false. Yeah, she's not Joni or Linda but she's nowhere as bad as you assert Phoenix

 

[Sal1950]

Moving on

Yes please...
But it does seem that everyone has missed the real point of me posting Beato's video or they didn't listen to it.
It really had little to do with the Beatles, but it was great click bait for Rick. LOL
The real point was Rick detailing how Taylors music is composed, and is much more a creation by committee of popular music
style engineers than her having any real personal song writing talent. In todays pop world she's not the only one "building" music
this way but definitely the most successful.

 

[Galliardist]

Yes please...
But it does seem that everyone has missed the real point of me posting Beato's video or they didn't listen to it.
It really had little to do with the Beatles, but it was great click bait for Rick. LOL
The real point was Rick detailing how Taylors music is composed, and is much more a creation by committee of popular music
style engineers than her having any real personal song writing talent. In todays pop world she's not the only one "building" music
this way but definitely the most successful.

Yet at the same time, she has been writing and co-writing songs for other artists herself down the years, so I don't believe she doesn't have any knowledge or ability herself in that area. I'm assured that she does have a singing voice, worked hard and came up the traditional way, toured as a support act and such, set to learning about and working at all aspects of the business, and is a competent performer on several instruments.

I may not like her music, and I get the criticism, but I'm pretty sure that in this case at least the committee is doing what she wants, just as much as say the Spiders played what Bowie wanted. Maybe there's a bit less difference conceptually than we might think?

 

[Marc v E]

In all fairness, have you personally managed to create music that millions of people love? Music is of course very personal, while I don't particularly like the Beatles, I don't derive any benefit from diriding them either.

No worries, it was just a humorous remark.

 

[antcollinet]

Remember when the Beatles were popular? The older generation also thought they were talentless hacks. It seems old people never understand what it is that the younger people see in their musical peers.

Very much this.

This entire thread, in large part, consists of a bunch of old men yelling at clouds. Not especially surprising: this demographic is not the target audience.

 

[rank]

I can't love it or hate it. It's just consumer muzak where there's NOTHING.

 

[Sal1950]

Very much this.

This entire thread, in large part, consists of a bunch of old men yelling at clouds. Not especially surprising: this demographic is not the target audience.

That's too easy a shot to take.
There's lots of great new music being created today, by very talented artists both young and old.
Taylor's just doesn't happen to be one of them.

 

[SSS]

Can't understand the Swift hype. It is not my music and I think that there is a lot of other music available which is at least as good.
As far as I can see is that some people like to view up to a star. Same with people who admire royals which I too can't understand.

 

[Ste_S]

Very much this.

This entire thread, in large part, consists of a bunch of old men yelling at clouds. Not especially surprising: this demographic is not the target audience.

Yes. You can spot these threads by the amount of Beato videos people post.

 

[A Surfer]

Again it seems that people just can't abide that people can like music that they don't appreciate simply because the music is likeable. The post two above this basically saying that, if I understand it right, that it isn't her music people like rather than they like her celebrity and the music is almost an aside.

People liked her music, which drove her celebrity. Maybe some people don't feel her music, no problem, whatever. There are people who don't like Bach or Mozart despite their brilliance. Taylor Swift is certainly not for everyone, but she is loved by many. I like several of her songs and enjoy playing along to them on my drums. I am fairly confident her celebrity has nothing to do with that.