Gen Xers - Do you find Taylor Swift’s music bland?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taylor sings about being young, having crushes and dating up through college age. That's 95% of her music. It's the same for other artists, but none has the number of songs and large fanbase that Taylor does. She has a very narrow wheelhouse, but it's currently a really popular wheelhouse.

See somebody else just said that most of her music is about revenge. Turns out you’re both wrong and probably neither of you have listened to most of her catalog which is fine. But maybe you shouldn’t be saying what she writes about if you don’t know.

Pp you quoted. I'd say Taylor's revenge theme fits right in with youthful dating. It's high highs and low lows, infatuation/passion/anger/reckoning/heartbreak/healing, if you remember those times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gen X and love her music. That said, I probably wouldn’t have noticed the music had I not been steeped in it via my young daughters.

At first I thought it was fluff, but then I watched her Netflix documentary and was surprised to see that she’s a truly talented lyricist and songwriter.

More importantly, she’s overtly kind and generous, self assured, hard working, and she uses her public platform to benefit others and to champion causes she believes in.

And she makes great Kool-aid too! Oh Yeah!

I guess I will never understand this sort of negativity. Maybe it just irks certain people that so many see Taylor for the positive force and talent that she is, because they can't see it.

Comfort yourself with the thought that I’m a member of the to be pitied, ‘other group’ composed only of ‘certain people.” Don’t worry, you won’t catch the evilness of negativity and gen X snark.

I actually love snark. I was a card-carrying member of TWOP. (RIP.)

I have no idea what that is, but you seem excited by your membership or former membership.

To be not snarky for a minute- I hate hearing Taylor because her songs are so boring and it feels like the same 3 notes are being drummed into my head. She has zero melody. If she is giving her money away- great but I don think that makes her “generous, hard working and blah blah blah. I love certain artists but I know nothing or little about what they do in their personal lives. She made a cult of personality out of her music and you (already a card carrying fan member of another group) appreciate that . I don’t care one way or another

EXECPT

I can’t just walk away when I’m in giant or at target or even the gas station. All places where I have heard her in the past 2 weeks and her 3 notes over and over again. I can’t walk away from work where my boss quotes her in staff meetings.

“If you're horrible to me, I'm going to write a song about it, and you won't like it. That's how I operate.“
-Taylor swift

She said that and I don’t think that is generous or kind or a role model or who I would want to be like. You say I’m negative, I say I’m tired of people thinking someone who trains her fans to look for Easter eggs and operates by writing mean songs is kind generous and nice.

TWOP was ground zero for Gen Z(+) snark more than 2 decades ago. Truly some masterpieces there.

I guess your post did make me realize that you (general you) have to give up some level of cynicism (the mark of Gen Z) and snark to fully embrace Taylor and her music. At least I did. Until TTPD, there was a certain level of awkward to her. I didn't appreciate her until, and I hate to admit this, I listened to Ryan Adam's cover album of 1989. I saw her writing in a whole new light. It think it was some level of internal misogyny mixed with doubt that a pretty blonde girl in her 20s could be that deep/talented but also pop. Right now the talented women ARE in pop - Taylor, Chappell, Charli, etc. Taylor was country first because it aligned better with her songwriting skills and age.

I think you mean GenX, not Z.

I thought the target of that show was millennials not gen x- gen x was already knee deep in babies and careers by the early oughts. Maybe I’m just showing my age!

GenZ is people born from 1997-2012. TWOP closed for good in 2014 when the oldest GenZers would have been 17. So maybe some of them were there, but it was started in 1998 and was most in its heyday in the late '90's to mid-aughts. One of its signature moments was when Aaron Sorkin based an episode of The West Wing on his experience posting the the TWOP forums. The founders and writers were all GenX.

Wow, this is super off-topic. Maybe we need a TWOP thread.

I was the original poster who brought up TWOP. I mis-typed and said Gen Z. I meant it was Gen X. Guess I am getting old

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vengeance is certainly one theme in her music but she has many others. Just focusing on that to sum her up is pretty reductive.

She does come off as petty, not just in her music but also in her behavior and some of the things she's said publicly about others.

On the other hand, I am also super petty sometimes, so I find this very relatable.

On the other other hand, she is very wealthy and successful so her ability to be petty sometimes successfully far exceeds mine, which makes me resentful/envious and brings me around to "someone at her level should be more gracious." You can decide for yourself if that makes me a hypocrite-- it doesn't matter because I'm not selling you anything so there are no consequences for me either way.

So true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gen X and love her music. That said, I probably wouldn’t have noticed the music had I not been steeped in it via my young daughters.

At first I thought it was fluff, but then I watched her Netflix documentary and was surprised to see that she’s a truly talented lyricist and songwriter.

More importantly, she’s overtly kind and generous, self assured, hard working, and she uses her public platform to benefit others and to champion causes she believes in.

And she makes great Kool-aid too! Oh Yeah!

I guess I will never understand this sort of negativity. Maybe it just irks certain people that so many see Taylor for the positive force and talent that she is, because they can't see it.

Comfort yourself with the thought that I’m a member of the to be pitied, ‘other group’ composed only of ‘certain people.” Don’t worry, you won’t catch the evilness of negativity and gen X snark.

I actually love snark. I was a card-carrying member of TWOP. (RIP.)

I have no idea what that is, but you seem excited by your membership or former membership.

To be not snarky for a minute- I hate hearing Taylor because her songs are so boring and it feels like the same 3 notes are being drummed into my head. She has zero melody. If she is giving her money away- great but I don think that makes her “generous, hard working and blah blah blah. I love certain artists but I know nothing or little about what they do in their personal lives. She made a cult of personality out of her music and you (already a card carrying fan member of another group) appreciate that . I don’t care one way or another

EXECPT

I can’t just walk away when I’m in giant or at target or even the gas station. All places where I have heard her in the past 2 weeks and her 3 notes over and over again. I can’t walk away from work where my boss quotes her in staff meetings.

“If you're horrible to me, I'm going to write a song about it, and you won't like it. That's how I operate.“
-Taylor swift

She said that and I don’t think that is generous or kind or a role model or who I would want to be like. You say I’m negative, I say I’m tired of people thinking someone who trains her fans to look for Easter eggs and operates by writing mean songs is kind generous and nice.

TWOP was ground zero for Gen Z(+) snark more than 2 decades ago. Truly some masterpieces there.

I guess your post did make me realize that you (general you) have to give up some level of cynicism (the mark of Gen Z) and snark to fully embrace Taylor and her music. At least I did. Until TTPD, there was a certain level of awkward to her. I didn't appreciate her until, and I hate to admit this, I listened to Ryan Adam's cover album of 1989. I saw her writing in a whole new light. It think it was some level of internal misogyny mixed with doubt that a pretty blonde girl in her 20s could be that deep/talented but also pop. Right now the talented women ARE in pop - Taylor, Chappell, Charli, etc. Taylor was country first because it aligned better with her songwriting skills and age.

I think you mean GenX, not Z.

I thought the target of that show was millennials not gen x- gen x was already knee deep in babies and careers by the early oughts. Maybe I’m just showing my age!

GenZ is people born from 1997-2012. TWOP closed for good in 2014 when the oldest GenZers would have been 17. So maybe some of them were there, but it was started in 1998 and was most in its heyday in the late '90's to mid-aughts. One of its signature moments was when Aaron Sorkin based an episode of The West Wing on his experience posting the the TWOP forums. The founders and writers were all GenX.

Wow, this is super off-topic. Maybe we need a TWOP thread.

I was the original poster who brought up TWOP. I mis-typed and said Gen Z. I meant it was Gen X. Guess I am getting old

TWOP was the best! I miss it.

[Anonymous]

Extremely obvious that many replies here have not listened to much of her music. I admit I love her, but even I can think of some valid criticisms and "bubblegum pop" ain't it. It sounds like many of you mostly listened to her singles circa 2012-2015 and never tuned in any further. Which is fine! You don't have to. But you don't know what you're talking about.

I'm also cracking up at the poster who said she and her daughter don't like her but "we're just counter culture I guess". Yes, not liking Taylor Swift is such an edgy and new opinion! It's so uncommon that there are threads about it in a middle aged mom forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taylor sings about being young, having crushes and dating up through college age. That's 95% of her music. It's the same for other artists, but none has the number of songs and large fanbase that Taylor does. She has a very narrow wheelhouse, but it's currently a really popular wheelhouse.

See somebody else just said that most of her music is about revenge. Turns out you’re both wrong and probably neither of you have listened to most of her catalog which is fine. But maybe you shouldn’t be saying what she writes about if you don’t know.

Pp you quoted. I'd say Taylor's revenge theme fits right in with youthful dating. It's high highs and low lows, infatuation/passion/anger/reckoning/heartbreak/healing, if you remember those times.

Feel like most songs are about love and relationships to some degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Extremely obvious that many replies here have not listened to much of her music. I admit I love her, but even I can think of some valid criticisms and "bubblegum pop" ain't it. It sounds like many of you mostly listened to her singles circa 2012-2015 and never tuned in any further. Which is fine! You don't have to. But you don't know what you're talking about.

I'm also cracking up at the poster who said she and her daughter don't like her but "we're just counter culture I guess". Yes, not liking Taylor Swift is such an edgy and new opinion! It's so uncommon that there are threads about it in a middle aged mom forum.

So, if it is okay that we don’t listen to her new talk singing “music’ why negate our opinion by saying we ‘don’t know what we are talking about.”

Yes, we do. We don’t like it and don’t care to know more than we already do.

The doublespeak of “you don’t have to like it, but you don’t know what you are talking about” is crappy.

You continue your tromp of making fun of non fans by “cracking up at a poster” Let us have our opinions too. Without ridicule.

That my friend, is real feminism without bullying and power plays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Extremely obvious that many replies here have not listened to much of her music. I admit I love her, but even I can think of some valid criticisms and "bubblegum pop" ain't it. It sounds like many of you mostly listened to her singles circa 2012-2015 and never tuned in any further. Which is fine! You don't have to. But you don't know what you're talking about.

I'm also cracking up at the poster who said she and her daughter don't like her but "we're just counter culture I guess". Yes, not liking Taylor Swift is such an edgy and new opinion! It's so uncommon that there are threads about it in a middle aged mom forum.

So, if it is okay that we don’t listen to her new talk singing “music’ why negate our opinion by saying we ‘don’t know what we are talking about.”

Yes, we do. We don’t like it and don’t care to know more than we already do.

The doublespeak of “you don’t have to like it, but you don’t know what you are talking about” is crappy.

You continue your tromp of making fun of non fans by “cracking up at a poster” Let us have our opinions too. Without ridicule.

That my friend, is real feminism without bullying and power plays.

Omg I'm getting lectured on feminism in a thread completely dedicated to the theme of calling a woman bland? Give me a break. I do think that people don't have to like it, and I do think that some people have listened to her music enough to have an opinion on it. I also think that a LOT of the criticisms in this thread are very obviously from people who have only ever heard her radio hits. If you feel defensive from my reply then it's obvious which category you fall in.

It's extremely bizarre the extent to which people try to make not liking her music some interesting facet of their personality. There is a lot of music I don't like, or don't have enough info to have an opinion on it. The last thing I would do is make a thread about it. I'm not going to let you pretend like the existence of this thread is some form of feminism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Extremely obvious that many replies here have not listened to much of her music. I admit I love her, but even I can think of some valid criticisms and "bubblegum pop" ain't it. It sounds like many of you mostly listened to her singles circa 2012-2015 and never tuned in any further. Which is fine! You don't have to. But you don't know what you're talking about.

I'm also cracking up at the poster who said she and her daughter don't like her but "we're just counter culture I guess". Yes, not liking Taylor Swift is such an edgy and new opinion! It's so uncommon that there are threads about it in a middle aged mom forum.

So, if it is okay that we don’t listen to her new talk singing “music’ why negate our opinion by saying we ‘don’t know what we are talking about.”

Yes, we do. We don’t like it and don’t care to know more than we already do.

The doublespeak of “you don’t have to like it, but you don’t know what you are talking about” is crappy.

You continue your tromp of making fun of non fans by “cracking up at a poster” Let us have our opinions too. Without ridicule.

That my friend, is real feminism without bullying and power plays.

Omg I'm getting lectured on feminism in a thread completely dedicated to the theme of calling a woman bland? Give me a break. I do think that people don't have to like it, and I do think that some people have listened to her music enough to have an opinion on it. I also think that a LOT of the criticisms in this thread are very obviously from people who have only ever heard her radio hits. If you feel defensive from my reply then it's obvious which category you fall in.

It's extremely bizarre the extent to which people try to make not liking her music some interesting facet of their personality. There is a lot of music I don't like, or don't have enough info to have an opinion on it. The last thing I would do is make a thread about it. I'm not going to let you pretend like the existence of this thread is some form of feminism.

I don't think it's a personality trait not to like Taylor Swift. She does not appeal to me. That does not make me more interesting than other people. It's just not my preference. I also hate eating meat and hate the KC Chiefs. People are allowed to have opinions. I am not sure why someone else's preference is so offensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Extremely obvious that many replies here have not listened to much of her music. I admit I love her, but even I can think of some valid criticisms and "bubblegum pop" ain't it. It sounds like many of you mostly listened to her singles circa 2012-2015 and never tuned in any further. Which is fine! You don't have to. But you don't know what you're talking about.

I'm also cracking up at the poster who said she and her daughter don't like her but "we're just counter culture I guess". Yes, not liking Taylor Swift is such an edgy and new opinion! It's so uncommon that there are threads about it in a middle aged mom forum.

So, if it is okay that we don’t listen to her new talk singing “music’ why negate our opinion by saying we ‘don’t know what we are talking about.”

Yes, we do. We don’t like it and don’t care to know more than we already do.

The doublespeak of “you don’t have to like it, but you don’t know what you are talking about” is crappy.

You continue your tromp of making fun of non fans by “cracking up at a poster” Let us have our opinions too. Without ridicule.

That my friend, is real feminism without bullying and power plays.

Omg I'm getting lectured on feminism in a thread completely dedicated to the theme of calling a woman bland? Give me a break. I do think that people don't have to like it, and I do think that some people have listened to her music enough to have an opinion on it. I also think that a LOT of the criticisms in this thread are very obviously from people who have only ever heard her radio hits. If you feel defensive from my reply then it's obvious which category you fall in.

It's extremely bizarre the extent to which people try to make not liking her music some interesting facet of their personality. There is a lot of music I don't like, or don't have enough info to have an opinion on it. The last thing I would do is make a thread about it. I'm not going to let you pretend like the existence of this thread is some form of feminism.

I don't think it's a personality trait not to like Taylor Swift. She does not appeal to me. That does not make me more interesting than other people. It's just not my preference. I also hate eating meat and hate the KC Chiefs. People are allowed to have opinions. I am not sure why someone else's preference is so offensive.

Exactly- she is on top of the world- why punch down and make mean girl fun of people who don’t like her?

[Anonymous]

Some of her songs are catchy but they are all starting to sound the same. I was just in Seattle and am so thankful that I grew up with 70s music (Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin etc), the 80s (Prince); Alternative Rock (The Cure, the Smiths etc..) and grunge (Seattle roots).

Signed,

A person born in 1973. I also like ABBA and the Beatles (parent’s music)

[Anonymous]

1971 here. I like her music.

[Anonymous]

Her catchy pop songs (shake it off, we are never getting back together) aren’t bad as bubblegum pop.

Her newer stuff, though, all sounds the same. I liked the first song from Folklore and then kept listening and realized it’s all the same sort of amelodic folky music.

It honestly puts me to sleep.

I’m a musician and love all sorts of music—everything from Mozart to Wu Tang to grunge to the Beatles—and I can’t connect with much of her music.

[Anonymous]

Her songs do not all sound the same, people. She has more variety in her music than most other artists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of her songs are catchy but they are all starting to sound the same. I was just in Seattle and am so thankful that I grew up with 70s music (Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin etc), the 80s (Prince); Alternative Rock (The Cure, the Smiths etc..) and grunge (Seattle roots).

Signed,

A person born in 1973. I also like ABBA and the Beatles (parent’s music)

That is all great music. I came of age during grunge as well. Love Taylor too.