Reply to Is Taylor Swift a Genius?

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Reply to "Is Taylor Swift a Genius?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I do think she is immensely talented as a songwriter, but it reflects the very narrow life experience of someone who became famous as a young teenager and has lived a curated, sheltered existence. For those who say she hasn't stagnated, part of that is her early success has afforded her the kind of creative partnerships and production that prevents this from happening, and I'm not convinced how much of that is self-motivated. Watching Miss Americana confirmed this for me. She's a huge brand and has competing voices trying to figure out her next steps, and sometimes her actual songwriting is the least of it.

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Ca you give an example of someone who found success later and wrote the sort of song Taylor couldn't (because of her limited life experience because of her early success)?[/quote]

I'm sure I will be told my taste in music is snobby, but okay:

Chaise Longue is a song by Wet Leg that is about sex and double entendre and also being young and horny. It's also funny as hell, in addition to having a killer hook. I have a hard time imagining Taylor writing something that funny, tongue in cheek, or "adult".

Avant Gardener is a song by Courtney Barnett about the challenge of living through the mundanities of life, of trying to grow something beautiful in the midst of ugly things, about feeling judged by others and wanting to just live your life.

These songs are catchy, relatable, and complex, with interesting lyrics and great melodies. But they reflect complicated lives and complicated thoughts. They aren't just about "oh no I'm sad about my love life" or "gosh, I'm mad that people criticize me." They demonstrate a level of humor or self-reflection that is just more sophisticated and interesting than most of what Taylor writes. I'm not criticizing all her music, I like some of it and I think some of her songs do reach this level. But I think she's run out of runway on some of the ideas and themes she's been exploring for the better part of two decades now, and she needs to go have some other experiences, living in less of a bubble than she currently lives, because I find her work is starting to get stale thematically. I also think taking a break could shake something loose artistically, too -- I think she's churned out a lot of music in this country-pop-indie cross-over vein but has stagnated on her sound and needs to shake it up.

If Taylor took a break, had some personal and artistic breakthroughs, and then came back and wrote something new and surprising that was still, unquestionably, her, I'd be willing to entertain the idea that she's an artistic genius. Right now I think she's just a talented and successful pop star, but not a genius, and definitely not a songwriting genius, despite her prolific output.[/quote]

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