To not understand the fuss over Taylor Swift.

[Partyinthedark]

Now. I don’t dislike or have any hate for the woman at all. She is very pretty, talented and it sounds like she is a good person. Not my taste in music, but some of her songs sound good.

but omg. People seem to be bloody obsessed with the lady. £300 a ticket to the Edinburgh show. People queuing from 5am to get near the front.

as a guide leader in 2010 or thereabouts I remember some 12 year old girls declaring their love for her. But it seems like lots of adults seem to love her too!

She's amazing, extremely talented and a force to be reckoned with. Her performace was flawless.
on Saturday,

That's y!

I couldn’t hum a single tune of hers - but good on her for competing - and winning - in the world of rock!

Coldplay were just one example, there are others, Harry Styles seems/seemed? to be ridiculously popular and I can't stand him either.

But those examples aren't really relevant either because there's always periods of time in the world where some group or some singer or something like high school musical creates mania...and then it passes and then something else becomes insanely popular, for whatever reason some things are just 'of the moment' and after Taylor Swift it will be someone else and a lot of other people won't get that either.

You mention Ed Sheeran, I think he has some lovely songs but I wouldn't seek him out to listen to. 'Shape of you' was one that I just didn't enjoy at all but it's the most second streamed song on spotify and was the first song ever to hit 2 billion plays which is wild to me but obviously a lot of people heard something in that song that I didn't which is why they enjoyed it so much.

Remember when most people hated Justin Bieber but then he brought out 'what do you mean?' and so many people just loved that song that always hated Justin Bieber before or would never have listened to him....some songs just hit the right spot with a huge amount of people!

Adele is great but I don't know how popular she is with kids, my daughter loves to sing Taylor Swift songs and all of that kind of stuff like Olivia Rodrigo, Gracie Abrams etc. and Taylor has a huge catalogue of stuff so she's going to be one of the most popular. She has over 200 songs also so it will be easier for people to keep playing her stuff without getting sick of it.

not even "Weee are never, ever, ever getting back together?" 😅

Nope!🤣
I mean, I’m aware of her, I’d recognise her in the street from all of the tabloid coverage, but hand on heart have never knowingly heard a tune from her (nor bothered enough to seek one out)

It's too much like a cult to me, it makes me uncomfortable seeing all the people so desperate to see her, almost lie the are devoting their lives to her.

It’s just hype, and good marketing. That’s all it is. People have FOMO cos it’s plastered all over social media, and news outlets. I work with someone who isn’t a fan, but has decided that because of the hype, she HAS to get tickets, and doesn’t care how overpriced they are. In a couple of years it will be someone else. She’s an OK artist, and I like the odd song or two, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see her.

The same thing happened with The 1975, on their recent tour. The gigs sold out super quick, thanks to TikTok, and people wanting to see Matty’s antics, and get videos for social media, and real fans struggled to get tickets.

People used to be this desperate about the Beatles. That’s why it was Beatle Mania. It was big news. Like TS, they had pretty good songs didn’t they? They were universally followed by the young in the early days. Definitely not parents. Over time everyone knew Beatles songs. I’d be surprised if TS has the same bank of work that the Lennon/McCartney partnership produced and they had so many covering their song too. Is this happening to TS songs?

I do think people like a sparkly show. She’s selling to all ages but yes, it feels a bit cultish, mainly because of the term Swifties. I think people who bought the Beatles slavishly were not discerning and this will happen to TS. She could probably put out any old rubbish and people would buy it. Cannot say I’ve ever listened to TS but I’ve seen Beyoncé who similarly changed outfits every 10 minutes!

I am not sure about Barbra Streisand comparisons. As she’s 82, and not much evidence of her giving concerts right now, that seems very odd. Different ages and different tastes. Adele was always for grown ups. A bit more baring her soul and “intimate”. I think people like singers for different reasons, which is ok. It seems harmless.

As for festivals: cannot see the attraction.We paid loads for DDs to go to Reading and V a decade ago. Never would pay for anyone else to go though! I went to V to see Beyoncé! VIP wasn’t that great!

Let’s see how this is going shall we?

Bland/boring/talentless/average/dull ☑️

Britney and Beyonce in their prime I get, but TS just seems so bland in comparison.

I just think that her music is very bland.

I think the melodies of her songs are just very boring and bland

I think she has an incredibly boring mediocre voice.

I think overrated and fairly average.

I genuinely don't think she's a talented singer in comparison to others.

I don’t think she’s particularly talented. Emperors new clothes I think.

Just a mediocre singer.

Songs all sound the same ☑️

she is consistent, churns out popular (if not bland and samey) songs

listening to some of her new stuff this morning, it’s so dull and all sounds the same.

Only writes about boyfriends ☑️

At least her boyfeinds know when it's over she gets a few more songs

Writes songs for kids/teenagers ☑️

all her fans are kids/teenagers ☑️

She appeals to young kids.

They're obsessed because she is marketed at young teenage girls.

They needed someone to fill the mold of sweet , innocent, middle class rich girl, who gets into no scandal. So young teens will follow her

”She’s no (insert name of someone who was big between 1960-1990)” ☑️

She's not a patch on Lulu !

Comparison with The Beatles/Queen/Madonna ☑️

I’d be surprised if TS has the same bank of work that the Lennon/McCartney partnership produced

It's not new. I seem to recall people getting quite excited about the Beatles.

Yes but they were different. Ditto the Stones, Madonna and Beyonce.

Comparison with Adele/Beyoncé/some other big voiced belter ☑️

if it had been Adele I could understand that as she has a great voice

She doesn't have the type of musical virtuosity of say Beyonce or the stylistic impact of someone like Rihanna

Would ppl still go if she stood still and wore jeans and a jumper.
Think Catherine jenkins, Barbara Streisand, they don't need to do that?

Nobody will be singing her songs in X years’ time ☑️

Give it a few years and no one will hear of her

How dare she own a private jet ☑️

she actually is polluting like hell with her private jet trips.

her carbon footprint is exceptionally uncaring of her fellow human beings

Ugh Taylor Swift fans are so defensive/take criticism of her so personally

Never heard of her

Never heard any of her songs ☑️

I’ve heard her name but know nothing else about her. I couldn’t name a single one of her songs.

I’m aware of her, I’d recognise her in the street from all of the tabloid coverage, but hand on heart have never knowingly heard a tune from her

Her tickets are extortionate ☑️

Only a few left and I’ll have a full house!

Ugh Taylor Swift fans are so defensive/take criticism of her so personally

You forgot to tick off this one 😜

I've not sought out her newer stuff, but really liked 1989 and used to listen to it loads when it came out.

It's not like she's the first pop singer to get to full on super stardom, so idk what there is to "understand"?

I don't have teenage daughters, but if they did I'd probably be happier if they were into an act like TS instead of a rock band full of male fuck ups who borderline (or outright) prey on drunk/drugged up teenage "groupies".😬

That's rubbish. It's on adverts, in films, on tv, on the radio all the time, in shops.

There is a new one - she is solely to blame for the evils of capitalism. She should be ashamed for seeking to make a profit from
her talent and effort. Surely no man would be so crass!

Just let people like what they want to like, for whatever reason they want

I have literally never seen a man criticised for earning too much money or being too successful. The misogyny is strong here.

I’m not a huge fan in that I don’t know all her songs and I don’t get all the references and significance of her videos/colours/ surprises but I do enjoy lots of her music and went last night - fabulous show, she sang all my favourites and the atmosphere was amazing. It was so busy but everyone I encountered was so friendly and supportive of the other fans - I saw young kids attending their first concert, families, groups of friends and couples, she appeals to such a wide range of people

She’s nothing like that 😂 her songs are full of explicit lyrics and she sings a lot about not being the “nice girl” that she was once portrayed as. She also sings about masturbation and quite a lot about sex so she’s hardly playing “innocent”. That probably was her reputation in the debut era but her rep has changed over the years, which features a lot in her songs including having an album about it.

It’s pretty rude to criticise something you know nothing about. It’s like my neighbour loudly slagging off the local school despite never having set foot in it or had a child attend there. Gets my goat!

Fair enough to have a negative opinion of something you yourself have experienced or listened to but throwing shade around about things you yourself are clueless about makes me draw certain conclusions and none are good.

@AngeloMysterioso @CandiedPrincess just fyi, I went onto Spotify to seek out some other tunes. They seem nice enough - but I really hadn’t heard them before.
I think it’s a part of getting older: I don’t listen to music radio any more, nor go to shops that play music or if so, rarely, and adverts, tv and film don’t necessarily tell you whose music is playing.
It’s not a dig at her to not know her catalogue - I surprised myself by realising that despite being so popular, I couldn’t remember or name a song by her, then I realised that I probably just stopped listening to new music around 20 years ago!