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Gen Xers - Do you find Taylor Swift’s music bland?
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Anonymous
If you stay open minded about music kids will develop their own taste. I have a 7 yr old whose favorite songs are: Rich Girl by Hall & Oates, Lilacs by Waxahatchee, Go Outside by Ratboys, Jolene by Dolly Parton, and anything by Beethoven. The Waxahatchee was something I like and played a lot at home and then she latched on to but the rest of that was stuff she heard randomly and was like "I LOVE this song" and asked us to put it on her playlist. I didn't even know who Ratboys was when she suggested that one and Rich Girl was a song she heard in a grocery store. She also likes songs from Frozen and Moana as well as some Taylor Swift. But she didn't come to that stuff on her own and decide she liked it independently. She knows it's what kids her age listen to and so she listened to it with the goal of liking it. It's good music -- this is fine. But her relationship to it is different because it was basically prescribed for her instead of just being something she heard and thought "I LOVE this." In fact she definitely heard all that stuff and liked it fine but didn't love it and it was only after learning that her peers at school are really into it that she decided she really liked it too. I would have been interested to see if she developed a love of those things on her own without any peer pressure. Again not because I think it's bad (I actually adore the songs Shiny and Antihero and a few other Swift songs and would have played those around the house no matter what) but just because I'm curious. But I think it's hard to have a relationship with music that popular without it being heavily mediated by the culture at large. |
Anonymous
I have a 10 yr old obsessed with Taylor Swift. I know she didn’t come to it on her own. She likes all the other things girls her age. I look at it as a phase like any other phase. She’ll grow out of it, move on, and hopefully develop her own authentic taste. But for now it’s all about conformity and liking what everyone else supposedly likes. It’s a way to bond on the playground. But it doesn’t mean the music is objectively good or that little kids have an ear for music and are picking up on greatness that their parents just don’t understand because they are close minded. I like lots of new music, but this one just doesn’t do anything for me, personally. |
Anonymous
Nobody is saying that and you sound crazy. |
Anonymous
“None them have touched Taylor’s success and impact.” Is that a reasonable statement in your mind? |
Anonymous
I'm not responding to someone who said they are boring; I'm responding to someone who said they sound the same. They don't but I did offer songs that do sound the same. Any good song can be boring to someone. |
Anonymous
Well they copied "the Air that I breathe" so... Lol, the band Radiohead hates that song. But they thank Nirvana and the grunge movement for making it popular on the re-release. Listen to Macy Gray sing it ... amazing, best version by far. |
Anonymous
Exactly. I get that if you are a Taylor Swift fan then 2023-2024 have been a heady time because the culture has aligned with your specific preferences in a major way. But like all trends it will fade. There have been musical acts as big as Swift before and there will be others in the future. And it's also normal for people to not get a current trend and be mystified because it's not for them. There were people who never got what people like about Beyonce, high waisted jeans, IPAs, or the show Friends. It's fine. Right now Swift is a major dominant trend and it seems like "everyone agrees" she's the best. But everyone never agrees. And her popularity will fade and many of the people who claim to really like her now won't care at all in a few years. Whereas people who loved her before this time will likely continue to like her because they genuinely are drawn to her and not just hopping on a bandwagon. And the people who still don't get what's so great about her will never become fans and it will be fine because she will no longer be the prevailing monoculture musical act. I never understood why everyone loved Hamilton and for a while people thought I was weird for not being super into it but then it passed and now no one cares what I think about Hamilton and in fact you will find many people who are neutral to negative on it. That will also happen with Swift. Can the Swifties handle it though? |
Anonymous
I wonder if the rabid NKOTB fans from back in the day regret any of it. I’m sure they tried to convince their parents it was the best music ever. It’s a trend, eventually the popularity will peak, and the next big thing is right around the corner. |
Anonymous
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Yeah I mean I loved BSB back in 1998 when I was in middle school. I tried to convince my parents they’re the best.
I’m a little embarrassed now, but it was a phase. I’ll admit I don’t really understand the women my age who still seem to genuinely love them, beyond the nostalgia. But I also don’t understand people my age who are obsessed with TS. I see posts from 35-40 year old women talking about how “she embodies the good in the world.” Huh? |
Anonymous
Yes? It’s pretty unprecedented what she’s done in terms of her success. This is just objectively a fact. Someone upthread mentioned rhianna and Beyoncé as comparisons in terms of success which I would agree with but they have also experienced ridiculous amounts of misogyny. I remember as soon as the news came out that Chris Brown had abused Rihanna, immediately someone on DCUM posted a thread that we should boycott all of Rihanna’s products and companies because she stayed with an abuser. And how awful of her. No mention, of course that we should boycott Brown, the actual abuser. But yes, I guess it’s ridiculous to think that there’s any misogyny with any female artist ever. How silly of me! |
Anonymous
didn't listening to BSB make you feel good at the time? |
Anonymous
To your first argument that it's fair to say no one else has "touched" Taylor's success and impact, please explain what it is about Taylor that is more successful and impactful than previous megastars. Other than sheer dollars earned-- it is the nature of the economy that new stars will always top the earnings of the last. There will be another artist whose tour makes more than Eras just like Eras topped previous tours. But what is it about Taylor that makes you say that, for instance, Beyonce or Rhianna or Madonna or Britney or Mariah or even Cher or Tina Turner or Aretha Franklin, cannot "touch" her success and impact? Why does Taylor belong in a separate class, other than you simply liking her music more than theirs (there are going to be lots of people who prefer the music of one of those artists to Taylor as well). Yes all female artists experience misogyny. Taylor is not the first and she also doesn't get it the worst-- much of what she's done owes a lot to paths cut by others on that list, or lessons Taylor learned from because of how other artists suffered. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
Honestly, it’s like people can’t use the Google. Check out where she is as a best selling artist relative to the time she’s actually been in the business, or even alive. |
Anonymous
YOU! that’s what happened you-o-o-u!!!!! |