I want to talk about something particular today. It's not the most important thing in the world right now (not by a long shot). It's not the most interesting. It's not the newest. What's more, I don't have any original thoughts on it, no novel insights, whatsoever. But it's something I've been thinking about and wanting to write about for a while. And the other day, I realized the only reason I haven't written about it is because I've been apprehensive about social backlash, and once I realized that, I decide to force myself to write about it. So, here it is...
Taylor Swift is way overrated.
I don't say this to denigrate her as a person or a businesswoman, and I'm not even talking about her place in pop culture, writ large. I have no issue with her being popular and making lots of money. I don't care that so many people seem to have an oddly personal stake in whom she dates, and I don't even mind that you can't watch a prime time football game now without seeing her on-screen more than you see most the players. That stuff is all good by me.
I'm just talking about her music. It's totally mediocre, right? People are just pretending to like it because of social pressure, the same way I pretended to like Poison back in the day. That's the only way all this makes sense to me. I listen to her songs, and I'm like, this is it? This is what everybody is crazy about? I mean, it would be one thing if she was just a normal, of-the-moment pop star, one of those artists with a song you hear thirty years from now and quiz your friend on who sings it and then get nostalgic for that time in your life. But she's so far past that. She's like The Beatles, Madonna, and Garth Brooks rolled into one. I just don't get it.
Now, you might be thinking that I'm not in her demographic, so of course I don't get it. But actually I very much am. Middle-aged white family man is a huge piece of her audience. I have a bunch of dad-friends who started off listening to her with their kids and now are just straight-up fans of hers, and I seemingly can't go a week without hearing a podcast episode or reading an article about a father taking his daughter to a Taylor Swift show (and this is "sports" content I'm talking about). For some reason, guys like me love her, and they love telling everybody that they love her.
You also might be thinking that her style of music just isn't the type I like, personally. But that's not it either, because there are many pop divas I'm a huge fan of. Madonna, I've always loved her music. Gloria Estefan, I mentioned my affinity for her in a previous entry. Whitney Houston might have the best pipes of them all. Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Cardi B -- I like all of them. Even the artists I don't really know or am not super into, they have at least one song where I'm like, Actually, this kinda rips. I'll take Ariana Grande's "Into You" or Miley Cyrus' "Flowers" over any Taylor Swift song, and it's not even close.
I started listening to Spotify's "enhanced" version of my playlist when I run. So, it mostly plays songs I selected, but it mixes in some other songs it thinks I might like (which, I must admit, I usually do -- damn you, AI overlords!). Sometimes it gets on a little pop diva run, and almost always I'm like, Hell yeah, turn it up. Then I hear a Taylor Swift song, and halfway through, I skip it. Like I said, I just don't get it.
You want to know what else? I kinda feel the same way about Beyoncé.
And now I'm almost surely getting canceled. Well, at least I didn't say anything negative about BTS.
Until next time...
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