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popmusicgeneration · 5 years ago

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Unpopular Opinion: Everyone Should Listen to Taylor Swift

by Elyse Wassem

People love to hate Taylor Swift. It’s a fact of life in today’s culture, although I think it’s entirely unfair. For years, the public has found any nit-picky reason to “cancel” Swift and put the blame on her for any drama involving her. (And there has definitely been a lot of drama.) Everyone knows of that now infamous scene at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards when Taylor was interrupted by Kanye West as she stepped on stage to accept her award for Best Female Video. Even as a bright-eyed 19-year-old just truly breaking into the mainstream music scene, she couldn’t have any successes without people trying to bring her down and minimize her talents as a singer and songwriter.

This unfortunate trend has continued throughout Taylor Swift’s career and has been a consistent thorn in her side for over a decade. She has had to deal with countless media storms and a seemingly endless amount of drama, but has continued to write and record powerful and culturally important songs. Her perseverance in continuing to make music despite all of the hate that has been thrown her way and the excessive scrutiny from the press makes it obvious that she loves what she does and cares about making a difference through her songs. I think that most people automatically categorize Taylor Swift and her music as “basic” without ever listening closely and thinking about what she’s trying to convey in her lyrics. There are so many reasons to give Swift and her music a chance to gain your appreciation and maybe eventually even your love, including her versatility, honesty, and advocacy.

She’s Versatile

Starting out in country music, Taylor Swift began her career as a young teenager whose songs were mostly about crushes, heartbreaks, and high school. Most people know that she continued to write breakup songs even as she made the seamless transition from the country genre into the mainstream pop scene with the release of her 2012 album Red and 2014 album 1989. Although many of her critics would like to say she only writes about bad breakups, her discography tells a different story, as it includes a variety of songs covering different emotions and topics. While her songs do include a lot of lyrics about the ending of relationships, there are also a lot about tough life-changing experiences and happy times in her life. “22” is a song that just about everyone knows, and it is upbeat and all about enjoying fun times with your friends, while “Soon You’ll Get Better” is an emotional song Taylor wrote while dealing with her mother’s cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Swift has also expanded her musical career to include songwriting for films. She wrote the heart-wrenching original song “Beautiful Ghosts” for the 2019 movie, Cats, which she also had an acting role in. Although there were a lot of negative reviews about the movie as a whole, Taylor Swift’s song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards. The 2020 nomination was her third in that category, exemplifying her ability to write a wide variety of songs. It doesn’t matter if you like peppy songs, show tunes, or songs that are good to cry to, because Taylor Swift has all of the above and everyone can find a song of hers to connect with.

She’s Honest

Swift’s music has changed a lot over the years and both the sound and message of her music have evolved as she has matured and had new experiences. Her musical evolution is evident of her growing into herself while constantly being scrutinized by the media and the public. Her two most recent albums are self-aware and honest in a way that most artists don’t dare to embrace. Her 2017 album reputation was a new and darker direction for Swift, as her previous albums avoided directly confronting the drama that she’s been involved in. However, in reputation, she wrote truthfully about her feelings surrounding the well-publicized feud with Kanye West. That album was a way for Taylor to set the story straight by telling her side of things and expressing how she truly felt about the feud itself and the ensuing press coverage, which was overwhelmingly critical of Swift.

She continued her openness in her 2019 album Lover, by writing about the same aforementioned feud in the song “I Forgot That You Existed”, but now revealing how her anger about the situation has disappeared and been left in her past. While many would say that her early career was built on songs about boyfriends, Taylor delves into a new and deeper level of vulnerability about relationships in Lover. She had been notoriously private about her relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn and had almost completely avoided talking about him with the press, but she included many songs about their relationship in Lover. The songs “London Boy” and “Paper Rings” both give fans a new insight into how her and Alwyn’s relationship has progressed, from the early days before they were official to where they stand now. By being brutally honest and vulnerable in her music, Taylor allows her listeners to trust her and connect better with her songs.

She’s Not Afraid To Get Political… Anymore

Taylor Swift used to be notoriously tight-lipped about all things political. She explained the reasoning behind her being so quiet for so long and why she decided to start speaking up about her political views in her 2020 Netflix documentary Miss Americana. When she began her career in music, she started out as a country artist and revealed in Miss Americana that her “label executives and publishers would say “Don’t be like the Dixie Chicks.””, because their split-second comment against President George W. Bush and the Iraq war in 2003 led to a flurry of name-calling and boycotting by conservatives. Swift went on to explain that she felt that her career was based on her being a “nice girl” and that it was a core part of her worth as an artist. She didn’t want to ruin her good girl image or jeopardize her career by saying something that people wouldn’t agree with and ostracizing her devoted fans, because she was led to believe that “a nice girl doesn’t force their opinions on people” and “a nice girl doesn’t make people feel uncomfortable with her views.”

However, on October 8, 2018, Taylor posted a paragraph in an Instagram caption, revealing for the first time ever that she would be voting for the Democratic candidates in the Tennessee elections for Senate and House of Representatives. She not only declared who she was going to vote for, but explained why she would not be voting for the female candidate, Marsha Blackburn, because of her voting record on issues like protecting women from domestic violence and the rights of LGBTQ+ people. Taylor also wrote “In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life over the past two years, I feel very differently about that now.” In making just that one Instagram post, she ended her long-standing political silence, and paved the way for her to make political statements with her music.

In Miss Americana, this pivotal moment of Taylor deciding to talk about politics is included in a tense scene where her father tries to talk her out of making the post. Taylor and her mother both try to get her father to understand her decision and Taylor defends her reasoning by saying that “this is something that I know is right, and… I need to be on the right side of history.” When Swift released her documentary, she also released a new song titled “Only The Young”, which is outspokenly political and condemns the government for not doing enough to help stop gun violence. This song is a call to action trying to encourage young people to vote and make a difference in the world. While there are certainly people who might not agree with her views, I applaud her decision to stand up for what she believes in and her effort to bring awareness to issues she believes are important to fight for or against in today’s society.

She’s An Advocate

In her latest album, Lover, Taylor Swift not only strayed from her edgy reputation-era sound and relatively aggressive lyrics into a happier and more peaceful album, but she also penned several songs addressing real problems that are prevalent in society. In her second promotional single from Lover, “You Need To Calm Down”, Swift tries to bring awareness to issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community, including online hate, homophobia, and aggressive protests. In the prideful and empowering lyrics, Swift even includes a shout-out to LGBTQ+ advocacy media organization GLAAD, giving many fans another reason to call her an ally.

Another issue that Swift feels passionate about is feminism and equal rights for women. She uses her music as a way to call out and stand up against the double standards that women face in both music and the media today. “The Man”, from her album Lover, is a catchy song with a powerful message about how women have to work a lot harder than men do in order to be recognized for their achievements. Swift sings about how she’s been perceived to be a person who doesn’t the success that she’s gotten, but how men who do the same things she’s done not only get credit for what they’ve done, but they also get praised for it. She also references the Me Too Movement and her own experience with being a victim of sexual assault by including the lyrics “When everyone believes ya/ What’s that like?”, pointing out the fact that a lot of women aren’t believed when they come forward to report harassment or assault. This song is a very direct way of calling out the media, the music industry, and society as a whole by emphasizing the struggles that authoritative and influential women face purely based on the fact that they’re female. Taylor’s advocacy not only lets fans feel like they’re cared about and understood, but the awareness she raises can lead to real changes.

Just Listen

I know that not everybody likes every genre of music, but I think that a lot of people discount pop music and the hardworking and talented artists, like Taylor Swift, who make pop music, for no actual reason at all. While not all pop music appeals to all people, it is called “popular” music for a reason, and if a large portion of the public likes it, there’s a good chance that anybody who starts listening with open ears and an open mind can find something to enjoy about it. I think Taylor Swift is a great artist to listen to, with a wide variety of sounds and songs for every emotion and occasion to get you started in your journey to loving pop music.

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popmusicgeneration · 5 years ago

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10 Things I Love About Pop Music

1. It’s universal After all, it is called “popular” music for a reason. It’s easily accessible and available for everyone to listen to and to enjoy. If you mention a pop song to a group of people, chances are that most of them have heard it before. 2. It boosts your mood Listening to music can make anyone feel happier and more energized. The peppiness of most pop music and the upbeat lyrics are sure to be able to brighten up even the worst of days. 3. It’s catchy Everyone knows how easily pop songs get stuck in your head, and I often catch myself humming the tune of a song even days after I heard it. I like how easy it is to learn the lyrics of a new song and to remember them for years to come. 4. Even I can sing along to it I’m by no means a trained or talented singer, but whenever I listen to the radio in the car, I always find myself belting out the lyrics. Some genres of music are intimidating or almost impossible for non-singers to sing along with, but pop music allows for people of all ages and abilities to sing. 5. It reimagines older songs A lot of pop music today draws both lyrical and rhythmic influences from older songs of several genres. Some pop artists even decide to sample songs in their new music, giving a new and inventive take on the original classics. 6. It helps spread messages In today’s society, music is a way for artists to speak their mind and encourage people to make a difference in the world. While not all pop music has a deep meaning, more and more artists are starting to get political with their songs and become more outspoken about social issues. 7. It connects people Pop music appeals to so many different kinds of people from all over the world and gives them something to relate to other people. I know that I’ve made friends with people both online and in person purely because we shared the same interest in music artists. 8. It’s so diverse Pop music encompasses all kinds of different artists who have unique styles. While some people say that all pop sounds the same, I know that pop can sound tremendously different depending on the artist or even the song, as a lot of artists nowadays seem to “reinvent” themselves every so often and don’t try to stick with one particular sound throughout their entire career. 9. You can listen to it while doing almost anything Since pop music is so easy to listen to, it provides good background noise for everyday activities, which you probably already know if you’ve ever been to a mall or coffee shop. 10. It helps me feel nostalgic I’ve grown up listening to pop music, so whenever I hear a song from a few years ago or a little further back, I think about when I first heard It and what was going on in my life. Even new songs with beats that are similar to older songs can trigger nostalgia and make me look back on a different time in my life.

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