Julie Burchill on Taylor Swift, writing and ethics

[Terref]

An excellent article from JB in the Spec:

Gah.

Sorry.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/taylor-swift-is-a-rotter-thank-goodness-for-that/

And:

https://archive.ph/4mBei

Great article!

Thank you for posting the article, a very enjoyable read.

I flipping love TS not least for the icon she is for young women and the giver of no fucks

I think what is really sad is that a woman is portraying women's lives as being centred on their relationship with men, and that apparently so many young women identify with this, they too think relationships with men are their primary purpose.

The presentation maybe very 21st century somewhere between pornified and cowgirl, but the content is 1950s women exist as the other half of men.

And JB's article reinforces this by saying the biggest accolade for women is to be able to write like men, ie rotters.

Depressing.

I think she quite sad in a way.

I wouldn't say it was giving no fucks, if she gives it this amount of time and effort.

Giving no fucks would be writing about your achievements or your pet goldfish. And not giving a second thought to your ex.

Perversely she becomes the very antithesis of what you say by writing nasty songs about her ex's.

Have to admit that when I first heard Joni Mitchell I thought she was fantastic, but then over time I thought seriously, your not 16 anymore.

Just in case anyone thinks I'm being a meanie to some young person.

I've sort of lost touch with Joni Mitchell so maybe she is or has written songs that dont feature men. And am really pleased she seems to have recovered from her serious illness.

Writing about her achievements - well she did win a Grammy for a song written about a critic who put her down. But I can't imagine fans finding songs about being on tour, writing songs all the time and recording them (which seems to have been her life since teenage times) being very relatable. Not all her songs are about relationships; though I would agree many are. I don't think there is a problem with that.

Many songwriters dont think the narrow music circuit or even glogal tour is real life. They are more than able to write songs about life, issues, mystical thoughts or whatever.

For instance Tracy Chapman https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4939944-tracy-chapman-becomes-the-first-black-person-to-win-song-of-the-year-at-the-cmas

(I take any excuse to mention her!)

A good chunk of the new album is about her / creatives relationship with fame and the press, being compared to other women, being put up on an impossible pedestal and held to unrealistic account. The 'problem' with TS is the layers and complexity of her songs, the rabbit hole that links them all and on first listen they appear to be about one thing, but in fact they are about something completely different.

As for writing about relationships with men, most songs throughout history are about that written by both sexes, it's the thread that bind us through riches, ages and through time, emotions are emotions and they are universal.

If people think she only writes about exes and relationships, they don’t listen to much of her music.

However, a huge percentage of song’s artists across all genres are about relationships, love, etc yet Taylor seems to get so much more shit than everyone else for it.

Many years ago, I read the transcript from Taylor's lawsuit against a radio station promoter. He grabbed her ass and she.sued him for $1. The lawyers tried to shame her and she did NOT back down. She.repeatedly stated he "had his hands on my ass" over and over. Lawyer asked why others in the studio didn't see it and she said They would have to be positioned on the floor between my legs looking up in order to see his hand on my ass. She was NOT taking anyone's shit and I admire that. I wish I had that transcript, it was freaking impressive

However, a huge percentage of song’s artists across all genres are about relationships, love, etc yet Taylor seems to get so much more shit than everyone else for it.

She doesn't get "shit". Most of the media, radio stations praise her and celebrate her achievement.

A few of us on a thread on FWR finding her song content a bit unimspiring doesn't mean she is treated worse than other singers.

And hardly surprise because as it is FWR some might think in this day and age a woman could write lyrics that dont centre men / her pursuit of a relationship with a man or men.

Nothing wrong with writing mainly about relationships, 99% of great pop songs are about relationships.

I do think writing a nasty song about someone you had a relationship with, and letting the public know that's who it is about, it a little lacking in class. Occasionally, justified, but generally not. Even if it went sour.

She does write lyrics that don’t centre men. Listen or google, she writes about lots of subjects. How many songs do you know?

I think she gets a disproportionate amount of shit. I’ve never seen any other celeb have as many negative threads/posts about them on mumsnet, with soap many slating things like her looks, dating history, what she wears.

She never says who they’re about. People speculate. Sometimes it may be obvious but if they’ve treated her terribly, why should she have to #bekind. Tell these men to be not be pricks.

so not soap. 😬

Joni Mitchell writes about many different things, particularly on her album Hejira, which I think is one of the greatest of all time. Her musicality and compositions are exceptional. I’d have picked Joni over Bob Dylan for the Nobel Prize in Literature for being “the brilliant inheritor of the bardic tradition” in Rushdie’s words.

I thought it was an excellent article - thank you for sharing.

I will link the feminist chat (generally positive) TS thread here. I have recently rewatched Miss American (available on Netflix) and I'm blown away by her honesty around issues like her weight, sexual assault case (which I first read about on FWR many years ago before I had any interest in TS) and genuinely how she deals with her reputation.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/feminism/4799240-taylor-swift?page=1

People complain that she's writing about love and relationships?

Crikey.

Swift's lyrics surprise me for their layered quality, and verve.

But mostly, I enjoyed what the article had to say about writing.

Because she's a successful woman and people have to find something to criticise 🙄

If that many are treating her terribly, possibly she has a faulty asshole radar. Or maybe it's just normal relationship stuff and she is treating them terribly?

It's not about being kind. If a male rock star slagged off his ex girlfriends publicly in song I doubt he'd get much sympathy here. If you put it out there they can too and it gets ugly.

If that many are treating her terribly, possibly she has a faulty asshole radar
is that not victim blaming?
I think people are assuming that songs based on former relationships are "you're a dick and I hate you" kind of thing - the lyrics are a lot more nuanced than that! Songs can analyse the beginnings of relationships and also the ends. And she has SO many albums - we can cherry pick "ex" songs but there is so much more. I prefer not to get involved in the "who's it about" speculation. I can relate to them in my own way then.

TS speaks to young women about relationships and that is ok to be angry / hurt / let down / not be a victim. Her SA case was huge. I often think it is a version of the MN relationships board. These young women have an icon that says no this isn’t right, I am going to talk about it. I am not going to be shamed and quiet and adhere to let’s not talk about men’s bad behaviour cos it makes men look bad. She is giving them a measure for their own relationships.

I sometimes think the bashing TS gets for apparently making out there's nothing more to life than relationships is a bit unfair.

Granted much of her songwriting centres around this but it's a common theme amongst many songwriters/artists.

If she continues writing about what she experiences in life I'm sure her music will reflect other themes.