Page 13 | AIBU to say Taylor Swift is a once in a generation songwriter?

HomeatRoseCottage · 2023-10-27T18:33:46+00:00

I’ve had 1989 TV on all day and she’s just magic 🥰

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HomeatRoseCottage · 27/10/2023 23:04

DeeCee77 · 27/10/2023 22:27

That's true, but she's still current so more will know her back catalogue.

What about when she no longer is current (or even flavour of the month)?

Alanis Morissette who I just mentioned, I think that's a decent comparison. She has been out of the limelight (relatively speaking) for quite a while, but her music is still very much relevant.

"Ironic"...sorry Taylor you have nothing quite like that.

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I like Alanis Morisette but is she still super relevant? I can’t think when I last heard a song of hers on the radio or used in a piece of media.

I also think it’s note worthy and impressive in and of itself that Taylor has been ‘current’ / flavour of the month for as long as she has. She’s coming up on 20 years in the industry and is not only more successful than she has ever been but is objectively one of the (if not THE) most successful musicians in the world right now.

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DeeCee77 · 27/10/2023 23:02

Snowdayplease · 27/10/2023 22:48

Hasn't she won lots of Grammys? Maybe they give them out in cereal boxes these days.

Harry Styles the Cheshire baker, plucked out by Simon Cowell (a chief culprit in destroying authentic pop music) to go into his boy"band", won a Grammy (a few of them).

Freddie Mecury won goose egg, nada, zilch, when it comes to Grammys.

They've always been worthless, now it's just clownish.

therealcookiemonster · 27/10/2023 23:01

@EmmaEmerald I just do? I find a lot of things idiotic, as other people do as well I am sure? I'm pretty sure, you might find some of the music I listen to pretty crap and maybe idiotic? just the way it is...

EmmaEmerald · 27/10/2023 22:59

DeeCee77 · 27/10/2023 22:53

Ironic is still played on the radio.

Alanis just feels alot more real, authentic.

That album of hers was a cultural monster. I really cant see Taylor coming close to it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_Kingdom

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I'd be interested to see a list from this year. Seven years ago is a long time in music.

is radio much of a thing now?

Portakalkedi · 27/10/2023 22:59

I've also never heard any of her songs ...

Tabbygabby · 27/10/2023 22:58

DeeCee77 · 27/10/2023 22:53

Ironic is still played on the radio.

Alanis just feels alot more real, authentic.

That album of hers was a cultural monster. I really cant see Taylor coming close to it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_Kingdom

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And? Radio is a dead media to the younger generations and different stations play a huge array. Her impact isn't any greater even contextually for the time than Taylors is. Again I'm a huge fan of AM but just curious as to why people don't think anyone will know the music of someone who has had a huge cultural impact in 4 decades time; even if her music isn't thought of highly by then. There's some actual crap that wasn't even overly popular or influential that's still played or people know from 40 years ago!

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HomeatRoseCottage · 27/10/2023 22:57

Nanny0gg · 27/10/2023 22:38

Aren't a lot of her songs co-written?

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why do people think this means she isn’t the talent behind them? She writes almost all the lyrics and melodies. She has co-writers who help develop those lyrics and melodies into fully formed songs. Just like Adele co-wrote Hello, Ed Sheeran co-wrote Shivers, Alanis Morisette co-wrote shivers, Christine McVie co-wrote Little Lies, and Eric Clapton co-wrote Tears in Heaven. It doesn’t compromise the skill and integrity of the artist to bring other talent in to the process of producing the song.

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EmmaEmerald · 27/10/2023 22:57

therealcookiemonster · 27/10/2023 22:54

@EmmaEmerald pretty much anything except pop.... I love classical music, and rock, some metal, edm, a lot of world music especially sufi spiritual music.

we are all allowed our opinions. if others want to like Taylor swift, that's their business. but those of us that dislike it are also entitled to. incidentally I don't think mr blobby is idiotic at all, there is something really darkly humorous about him... but that's just my take on it.

Of course
but I'm curious why you think her songs are "idiotic"?

pp mentioned Grammys - some lovely youtube clips of acoustic show at the Grammy Museum if you're interested.

idontknowhowigotoverit · 27/10/2023 22:56

My 15 yo loves her.

I really like Taylor as a human being, as a role model, as a self-made person, I think she seems genuine and kind-hearted.

I don't think she makes music with me in mind but I don't find any of her music objectionable.

I really love the1. Really love it. Don't think I feel that way about any of her other songs, but that one. Yes.

DeeCee77 · 27/10/2023 22:56

CorneliaStreet · 27/10/2023 22:47

Lana del Rey writes an album with Jack Antonoff (Norman Fucking Rockwell) = critics all saying Lana is America’s greatest songwriter. Taylor Swift writes an album with Jack Antonoff (Midnights) = people saying Taylor doesn’t write her songs and her collaborators do all the work. I don’t get it.

I also don’t get people saying things like she only writes about teenage angst, strumming her guitar, etc. She’s released eight more albums since Fearless, things have moved on.

And saying she’s a nepo baby and only did well because she has mega rich parents. Are people confusing her with Miles Cyrus or something?

Oh del ray is an immense fraud. Completely packaged following her first offering.

Taylor Swift is Mozart in comparison to her.

therealcookiemonster · 27/10/2023 22:54

@EmmaEmerald pretty much anything except pop.... I love classical music, and rock, some metal, edm, a lot of world music especially sufi spiritual music.

we are all allowed our opinions. if others want to like Taylor swift, that's their business. but those of us that dislike it are also entitled to. incidentally I don't think mr blobby is idiotic at all, there is something really darkly humorous about him... but that's just my take on it.

DeeCee77 · 27/10/2023 22:53

Tabbygabby · 27/10/2023 22:42

It depends what you class as relevant I suppose. Lots of people of a certain demographic will know Ironic at the very least, but for the wider population which seems to be the criteria posters are setting for longevity, she's not relevant at all. She's an amazing artist though and I personally love her music, I think having anyone knowing your songs 40 years on is impressive, there will absolutely be people, even if not wider society (whatever that actually means), who know her music in 40 years.

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Ironic is still played on the radio.

Alanis just feels alot more real, authentic.

That album of hers was a cultural monster. I really cant see Taylor coming close to it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_Kingdom

Dotcheck · 27/10/2023 22:53

And… I love Taylor Swift- massively talented.

Her parents have nothing to do with the music industry- how is she a ‘nepo baby’?

Dotcheck · 27/10/2023 22:50

Panaa · 27/10/2023 21:07

Huge Kanye fans here.

In my house we're not sheep and can use our own brains so we don't consider him an anti-semite!

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Er….

How convenient that you can just choose to decide he isnt

Snowdayplease · 27/10/2023 22:48

Hasn't she won lots of Grammys? Maybe they give them out in cereal boxes these days.

EmmaEmerald · 27/10/2023 22:48

therealcookiemonster what sort of music do you enjoy?

the teen angst thing is bizarre. Remember the Verve singing "love is noise, love is pain, love is these blues that I'm singing again"...? Bet no one called that teen angst.

OP re Illicit Affairs, I haven't had one, but that hit me hard in the cinema with the seeing colours you can't see with anyone else thing.

CorneliaStreet · 27/10/2023 22:47

Lana del Rey writes an album with Jack Antonoff (Norman Fucking Rockwell) = critics all saying Lana is America’s greatest songwriter. Taylor Swift writes an album with Jack Antonoff (Midnights) = people saying Taylor doesn’t write her songs and her collaborators do all the work. I don’t get it.

I also don’t get people saying things like she only writes about teenage angst, strumming her guitar, etc. She’s released eight more albums since Fearless, things have moved on.

And saying she’s a nepo baby and only did well because she has mega rich parents. Are people confusing her with Miles Cyrus or something?

AllegroConMoto · 27/10/2023 22:46

therealcookiemonster · 27/10/2023 22:43

@23Oct her voice is literally like nails down the blackboard for me. don't want to torture myself. and I shouldn't have to research a song to feel the complexity. truly developed music touches your soul without explanation... just like one laughs at a good joke without explanation.

But there is no single piece of music that touches everyone’s soul. Just like there is no joke that everyone finds funny.

I think some people just seem to enjoy slating anything or anyone that is popular tbh.

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HomeatRoseCottage · 27/10/2023 22:44

DeeCee77 · 27/10/2023 22:13

She does get the mums via them supervising their kids at the shows. But yes her demographic is very specific. Teen angst is her subject matter.

Alanis Morisette, while she also collaborated with other songwriters her material caters to a much bigger demographic, hence her songs (from one stacked album) are still part of pop culture.

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What do you know about her subject matter to make you describe it as ‘teen angst’. This might have been somewhat true of her first couple of albums (written when she was, in fact, a teenager), but now?

What about Marjorie, which is about realising too late what you lose when a beloved grandparent dies and you only have memories left? Or Epiphany, which linked the trauma suffered by healthcare workers fighting on the frontlines in the pandemic to the experiences of soldiers fighting in WW2?

Or illicit affairs, which is about the ways in which infidelity compromises the beauty of a great love through deceit?

How about no body no crime, which is clever, witty and about getting away with murdering your best friend’s husband?

you absolutely don’t have to like Taylor swift or any of these songs but there’s something so sneering about writing her body of work off as mere teen angst that is only popular with teens when it’s blatantly not true

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23Oct · 27/10/2023 22:44

therealcookiemonster · 27/10/2023 22:43

@23Oct her voice is literally like nails down the blackboard for me. don't want to torture myself. and I shouldn't have to research a song to feel the complexity. truly developed music touches your soul without explanation... just like one laughs at a good joke without explanation.

Well I'd argue Ronan would do that for you, be abuse it's make you care enough to find out who the little boy who died was.

therealcookiemonster · 27/10/2023 22:43

@23Oct her voice is literally like nails down the blackboard for me. don't want to torture myself. and I shouldn't have to research a song to feel the complexity. truly developed music touches your soul without explanation... just like one laughs at a good joke without explanation.

Tabbygabby · 27/10/2023 22:42

DeeCee77 · 27/10/2023 22:27

That's true, but she's still current so more will know her back catalogue.

What about when she no longer is current (or even flavour of the month)?

Alanis Morissette who I just mentioned, I think that's a decent comparison. She has been out of the limelight (relatively speaking) for quite a while, but her music is still very much relevant.

"Ironic"...sorry Taylor you have nothing quite like that.

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It depends what you class as relevant I suppose. Lots of people of a certain demographic will know Ironic at the very least, but for the wider population which seems to be the criteria posters are setting for longevity, she's not relevant at all. She's an amazing artist though and I personally love her music, I think having anyone knowing your songs 40 years on is impressive, there will absolutely be people, even if not wider society (whatever that actually means), who know her music in 40 years.

U2HasTheEdge · 27/10/2023 22:40

Grown adults clearly do like her. I am 42. My husband is 47 and mainly listens to Jazz, Soul, Blues and Funk loves her. I was initially shocked by this, considering his usual music tastes. She has a lot of different music and can't be judged alone by her singles.

I first realised how talented she is when folklore was released.

Nanny0gg · 27/10/2023 22:38

HomeatRoseCottage · 27/10/2023 20:08

I see people call her bland on mumsnet a lot and I just wonder if those using that word have ever actually listened to some of her lyrics, because it’s such an inapt descriptor!

Aren't a lot of her songs co-written?

23Oct · 27/10/2023 22:38

therealcookiemonster · 27/10/2023 22:27

if all you listen to is pop, then sure... but there is no complexity, the songs are idiotic and she has very mediocre singing abilities. there are many many other singers/song writers out there including in her generation who are far more accomplished. she is just great at marketing herself and yes she is absolutely stunning. but it boils down to personal preference, i can't stand pop, it makes my skin crawl.

Edited

I challenge you to go listen to Ronan, and the story behind how it was written, and still say that.