Can Anyone Explain This Crazy Taylor Swift Mania?

[CHEESEY13]

Or am I very much alone in being vaguely foggy about it all?

She sings a few decent-ish tunes but the phenomena is a Goliath.

And I can't really think why?

Oh well, time to finish knitting this cosy cardi......

Culture has short memories though.

If you were around in hte 80s Madonna was HUGE. Now look at her. She's struggling on, has a fan base big enough to tour but has become a bit sad really.Her songs are still played but frequency is low as music is about the new and latest fashion.

Lulu was mobbed wherever she went. Now she's someone who is Lose Woman prime candidate.

Try Google if you're unsure...

Madonna was of her time. The female solo big pop star was also quite unique at the time. But Kate Bush is still massively popular or Stevie Nicks and they were huge in the 70s and 80s. A broad age appeal as well.

Joni Mitchell as well to an extent, at least in terms of our output.

You'll hear Madonna's music (or see her fashion style) on 80s night events but it doesn't really transcend beyond that.

@SummaLuvin · Today 13:32

No OP, I think you are alone in being the only person who doesn’t like Taylor’s music. Well done for being so special and unique and not like all us other basic bitches who are too stupid to understand what good music is. And my god you knit too? Aren’t you just so superior!

😂

I mean… I’ve been listening to her music for 15 years already and that wasn’t her first album, so there’s been people listening to her for longer than me.

So tbh I kind of suspect she might have a fair bit of longevity.

Also kind of ironic to pit her against the Beatles when Paul McCartney’s publicly praised her songwriting and her and Paul McCartney have written songs about each other 🤷‍♀️

I have no idea either, but then I'm not the target demographic. I don't even know any of her songs. She may be good at what she does - I don't know - but she clearly also has an excellent PR team.

What was stopping you naming them? Or, were you just desperate to point out their race? Odd.

Not saying this is the most creative but if it feels the most apt on these threads

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AqAJLh9wuZ0

Jealous?! 😂😂Hardly. I'm not interested in knowing anything about her really. Funny how nobody under 50 cares about The Beatles but you look on another thread today with the Op asking what teens are listening too - lots of them said their kids love the Beatles...
LMFAO

You clearly don't know much about Elivs and people of all ages across the world love both Elvis and The Beatles. You just cannot compare Swift to Elvis, The Beatles or Led Zep, Queen etc. Look how big The Spice Girls were back in the day, far bigger than TS but they probably won't be mentioned in 60 odd years

So do a few indie musicians I follow with much much smaller fan bases. I personally would drool over them than Taylor.

I don’t disregard her talent - and I sing along to some Taylor every now and then - but the difference between being talented with zero attention and talented with her level of success is bloody good promotion/press/management etc.

I bet ALL THESE KIDS listening to the Beatles can't name more than 5 tracks of theirs! 😆 They're just trying to sound 'cool,' not realising most people find the Beatles a little bit boring and overhyped now. And as I said, (and some other posters did too,) whilst they made some good stuff, they produced some drivel too.

@marmaladeandpeanutbutter · Today 19:46

No a clue why she's so famous. She's dull as ditchwater and not especially creative, imo. My kids agree.

Awww, how cute. You and your kids bonding over how much you all loathe Taylor Swift. 😂

(Apart from the current mania), I disagree with calling her the modern day Madonna. I know Madonna isn't the best singer, she's said that herself. But there's a bigger and better impact with her career than Taylor will ever have. The things Madonna has achieved has put her up there with the greats like Elvis, etc.
Taylor doesn't appeal to people in the same way. You will always hear Madonna songs blaring at a party, and people singing along but that isn't the case for Taylor.

Madonna's fanbase has grown up with her (not all are still around I know) but there's a wide range of ages and people from all walks of life. Taylor still has her loyal fans who are the same age as her, but her main fanbase are teens.

Madonna is most definitely not struggling on. 40 years and her career is still huge. She still getting mobbed, still breaking all kinds of records. She's unstoppable. She hasn't become sad either, she's still doing what she's always done, and that's just be herself.

Agree that Her Madge is still doing extremely well.

I don't have an official dataset, nor do I know where you'd get one, but I heard > 30% of TS fans were middle aged, and given that we're really now on 18 years of her music, and the boost in popularity from Folklore/Evermore, I think that's probably correct.

Like Madonna, Taylor's fanbase has grown up with her, or moved from one phase of adult life to another.

I’d be very surprised if TS’s main fan base consisted of teenagers nowadays. I’m 51 and I know a lot of TS fans my age. My friend is early 60s, wouldn’t normally go to a concert but would be happy to see TS. My youngest teen is far more into Drake, SZA and the like.

Yellow Submarine was always a bit of a novelty record. I think a playlist featuring Marjorie, Eleanor Rigby and Clara Bow would go very nicely together.

I also don’t think Madonna is at all sad. She’s just being Madonna, good on her (did you see what I did there 😆).

I'm assuming her fan base is mostly 8 - 18.

@Bbq1why are you assuming that? She’s 34 years old, most of her fans are I would say at least mid to late 20’s, with a big chunk being early to mid 30’s same as she is. I’m going to a Wembley show with two friends and our average age is about 42.

Her main fanbase used to be teenagers- when she was one. But she grew up and so did they. You know who apparently didn’t grow up? The people insisting she can’t possibly stand alongside the likes of The Beatles who were just The Best Thing Ever (and whose main fan base, incidentally, was teenage girls).

How long were you in the coma for? 😂
This article might help:
https://amp.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jun/02/taylor-swift-impact-records-eras-tour

The only song I know of hers is Trouble which is a fairly catchy song but I don't love it. I have heard many other of her songs on the radio but they've never stuck in my mind or stood out.
I don't find endless songs about boyfriends and relationships very interesting. Does she write about anything else?
The bands I follow have something interesting to say (as well as writing good music).

Scuse me while I cross off “all she writes about is boyfriends” from my Reasons Why Taylor Swift Is Crap bingo card…

Songs Taylor has written…

Bigger Than The Whole Sky - about miscarriage

The Man & Mad Woman - about sexism, misogyny and the patriarchy

Ronan- about a 3 year old boy who died of neuroblastoma

Dress- about sex

Champagne Problems- about turning down a marriage proposal

Soon You’ll Get Better- about her mother’s battle with cancer

Epiphany- about the trauma of witnessing death

Marjorie- about her Grandmother passing away

Well you are entitled to your music taste but it’s frankly wrong to say she just sings about relationships. And a view based on one song is basically utterly meaningless.Off top of head she has written about :

extra marital affair of a friend
covering up a murder
teenage girl bullying
serious illness of parent
scandalous wealthy American family at turn of century
Betrayal
children growing up
sexism faced by women
women going mad and societal response to that
Leaving a small town
New York
Florida
revenge

She writes about lots of things - most of her songs are very personal so you get a lot of relationship ones, but also a lot about how fame/the media etc treat women, a fair few about the issue she’s had with her ex label and her masters, her mother’s cancer, losing her grandmother

When my 13 year old was having a hellish time with “friends” listening to Mean and Best Day genuinely helped. Sounds silly but it really did - if TS went through it and survived so could she.